<p>Titan orbits Saturn in the same plane as the rings, and the planet's equator, but much further out.  Saturn is tilted with respect to the plane of it orbit by 27 degrees</p>
<p>This tilt means that usually the moon doesn't enter Saturn's shadow at all. If you were on the moon you would experience 8 earth-days of (weak distant hazy) daylight and 8 days of darkness.</p>
<p>However at two points in Saturn's orbit, its equatorial plane is aligned to the sun (These are the Saturn's spring and autumn equinox) at these times Titan can be eclipsed.</p>
<p>What you would see would depend where you are on Titan. If you are on the side facing Saturn, you would get 8 days of nighttime (with Saturn as a large feature of the sky (except you can't see it because of the haze))  Then the sun rises it moves slowly across the sky before moving behind Saturn.  When it goes behind Saturn it would be a solar eclipse. The sky would go dark.  Then the sun would come out from behind Saturn and the sky would become light again.  Later, the sun would set for 8 days of darkness.</p>
<p>If you are on the far side from Saturn you would get 8 days of (weak) daylight, followed by 8 days of night. The time when the sun is eclipsed would happen at night, so you wouldn't notice it.</p>
<p>This is really no different to what happens on a day on Earth went the sun is eclipsed by the moon.  There is sunrise, and the world becomes light.  Eclipse and the world becomes dark.  The eclipse ends and the world becomes light again and sunset.  You don't normally call start of an eclipse &quot;sunset&quot; nor is the ending &quot;sunrise&quot;.</p>
<p>Unlike eclipses on Earth, the eclipse of Titan by Saturn can last up to 6 hours. Also unlike Earth, there will be repeated eclipses in a season lasting about 1 earth year. and these seasons occur every 15 years</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-20T15:23:23.563Z
2022-02-20T17:31:12.643Z
2022-02-20T17:31:12.643Z
James K
<p>I still cannot seem to wrap my head around Titan's day and night based off of math. From what I understand, Titan has a day of 16 earth days (384 hours) in which it circles Saturn once (its day and also 1-year orbit around Saturn). But during one full day would we see only one sunrise and sunset per day (with length of sunlight increasing/decreasing with the seasons as we have on earth) and then another sunrise and sunset (daily?) as Saturn blocks the sun casting Titan into complete darkness and then dawn as it peeks out from the other side again?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-21T14:40:05.263Z
Technically, that second "Sunrise/sunset' is an eclipse. And it wouldn't happen every day on Titan.
RBarryYoung
<planet>
Daylight hours on Titan?
StarbuckM
# Daylight hours on Titan?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-02-20)

I still cannot seem to wrap my head around Titan's day and night based off of math. From what I understand, Titan has a day of 16 earth days (384 hours) in which it circles Saturn once (its day and also 1-year orbit around Saturn). But during one full day would we see only one sunrise and sunset per day (with length of sunlight increasing/decreasing with the seasons as we have on earth) and then another sunrise and sunset (daily?) as Saturn blocks the sun casting Titan into complete darkness and then dawn as it peeks out from the other side again?

**Tags:** planet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Technically, that second "Sunrise/sunset' is an eclipse. And it wouldn't happen every day on Titan.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-02-20. Score: 28 | Accepted answer

Titan orbits Saturn in the same plane as the rings, and the planet's equator, but much further out. Saturn is tilted with respect to the plane of it orbit by 27 degrees

This tilt means that usually the moon doesn't enter Saturn's shadow at all. If you were on the moon you would experience 8 earth-days of (weak distant hazy) daylight and 8 days of darkness.

However at two points in Saturn's orbit, its equatorial plane is aligned to the sun (These are the Saturn's spring and autumn equinox) at these times Titan can be eclipsed.

What you would see would depend where you are on Titan. If you are on the side facing Saturn, you would get 8 days of nighttime (with Saturn as a large feature of the sky (except you can't see it because of the haze)) Then the sun rises it moves slowly across the sky before moving behind Saturn. When it goes behind Saturn it would be a solar eclipse. The sky would go dark. Then the sun would come out from behind Saturn and the sky would become light again. Later, the sun would set for 8 days of darkness.

If you are on the far side from Saturn you would get 8 days of (weak) daylight, followed by 8 days of night. The time when the sun is eclipsed would happen at night, so you wouldn't notice it.

This is really no different to what happens on a day on Earth went the sun is eclipsed by the moon. There is sunrise, and the world becomes light. Eclipse and the world becomes dark. The eclipse ends and the world becomes light again and sunset. You don't normally call start of an eclipse "sunset" nor is the ending "sunrise".

Unlike eclipses on Earth, the eclipse of Titan by Saturn can last up to 6 hours. Also unlike Earth, there will be repeated eclipses in a season lasting about 1 earth year. and these seasons occur every 15 years


---

