Saturn's satellites are a lot fainter than the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter, only eclipses of the two brightest, Titan (magnitude 8.6) and Rhea (magnitude 9.9) are likely to be observable through a small telescope. The inner satellites are fainter still and eclipses will occur close to Saturn's disk, making them difficult events.
Eclipses of Rhea started in July 2008 and occur at intervals of approximately 4.5 days. Those of Titan, which is considerably further from Saturn than Rhea, occurred in 2009, with the final eclipse of the series on 1 January 2010. The table shows the eclipses of Rhea which occur in 2010.
The dates and times of events are in Universal Time (UT). To convert from UT to NZST add 12 to the hours if they are less than 12. If the hours are 12 or more, subtract 12 from them and add 1 to the date. During NZDT add 13 to the hours if less than 11, else subtract 11 and add 1 to the date.
After opposition on Mar 22, the situation is reversed with only the reappearances of Rhea from eclipse being visible. The satellite moves into eclipse while it is occulted behind Saturn. For these the event the times shown are for the start of the occultation and for the emergence of Rhea from eclipse. In both cases the background for occultation events is in grey.
The distance of Rhea from the limb of Saturn at eclipse is small, just over 8" at a maximum, as at the beginning of January 2010. It is less nearer the date of opposition. The distance is considerably less than for Titan; 8" is not quite as far out as the edge of the rings. In addition Rhea is about 1.6 magnitudes fainter than Titan. Both these factors will make observation of Rhea's eclipses more difficult. A reasonable sized telescope will be needed to view them. Rhea will be to the north of and well clear of the rings, nearly on a level with Saturn's pole. The best eclipses for New Zealand are those during the morning hours in January.
Before opposition on March 22, eclipse disappearances of Rhea take place to the west of Saturn, after opposition eclipses reappearances take place to the east of Saturn. These will take place rather closer to the rings than the disappearances. If Saturn is allowed to drift through a telescopes field of view, it moves to the west.
Transits of the shadow of Rhea are difficult events due to the small size of Rhea's shadow on the face of Saturn. They occur close to mid way in time between pairs of eclipses.
| Eclipses of Rhea | |||||
| Date | Time UT | Date | Time UT | ||
| Ecl. Disappearance | Occ. Reappearance | Ecl. Disappearance | Occ. Reappearance | ||
| Dec 25 | 01:23 | 06:00 | Dec 29 | 13:51 | 18:25 |
| Jan 3 | 02:18 | 06:51 | Jan 7 | 14:46 | 19:16 |
| Jan 12 | 03:14 | 07:42 | Jan 16 | 15:41 | 20:07 |
| Jan 21 | 04:09 | 08:33 | Jan 25 | 16:37 | 20:58 |
| Jan 30 | 05:05 | 09:23 | Feb 3 | 17:36 | 21:47 |
| Feb 8 | 06:00 | 10:11 | Feb 12 | 18:29 | 22:36 |
| Feb 17 | 06:56 | 10:59 | Feb 21 | 19:25 | 23:23 |
| Feb 26 | 07:53 | 11:46 | Mar 2/3 | 20:21 | 00:09 |
| Mar 7 | 08:49 | 12:31 | Mar 11/12 | 21:18 | 00:53 |
| Mar 16 | 09:46 | 13:15 | Mar 20/21 | 22:15 | 01:36 |
| Mar 22 | Saturn at opposition, eclipses move from west to east of the planet | ||||
| Date | Time UT | Date | Time UT | ||
| Disappearance | Reappearance | Disappearance | Reappearance | ||
| Mar 29/30 | 22:52 | 02:24 | |||
| Apr 3 | 11:10 | 14:50 | Apr 7/8 | 23:03 | 03:17 |
| Apr 12 | 11:47 | 15:44 | Apr 17 | 00:07 | 04:11 |
| Apr 21 | 12:27 | 16:38 | Apr 26 | 00:47 | 05:05 |
| Apr 30 | 13:08 | 17:32 | May 5 | 01:30 | 05:59 |
| May 9 | 13:52 | 18:26 | May 14 | 02:15 | 06:52 |
| May 18 | 14:39 | 19:19 | May 23 | 03:03 | 07:46 |
| May 27 | 15:28 | 20:13 | Jun 1 | 03:34 | 08:40 |
| Jun 5 | 16:20 | 21:07 | Jun 10 | 04:47 | 09:33 |
| Jun 14 | 17:14 | 22:00 | Jun 19 | 05:34 | 10:27 |
| Jun 23 | 18:12 | 22:53 | Jun 28 | 06:41 | 11:20 |
| Jul 2 | 19:11 | 23:46 | Jul 7 | 07:43 | 12:12 |
| Jul 11/12 | 20:14 | 00:38 | Jul 16 | 08:46 | 13:04 |
| Jul 20/21 | 21:19 | 01:30 | Jul 25 | 09:53 | 13:56 |
| Jul 29/30 | 22:27 | 02:22 | Aug 3 | 11:02 | 14:47 |
| Aug 7/8 | 23:37 | 03:12 | Aug 12 | 12:13 | 15:37 |
| Aug 17 | 00:50 | 04:01 | Aug 21 | 13:28 | 16:25 |
| Aug 26 | 02:07 | 04:49 | |||
| End of sequence of eclipses of Rhea | |||||