Dunedin, New Zealand: Ian Griffin, Director at Otago Museum and a passionate stargazer, early Friday morning captured Saturn almost ‘touching’ Moon from his smartphone. People are in awe of both, his smartphone advancement and the wonderful celestial moment!

Image Source: Grant Peterson

Early this morning, Otago Museum director and astronomer Dr. Ian Griffin a rare celestial moment, the planet Saturn being adjacent to our planet’s satellite, Moon.

After capturing the image, Mr. Griffin shared his midnight adventure with the masses via Twitter.

Talking to New Zealand’s media giant NZHerald, Mr. Griffin said: “It was perfectly clear in Dunedin. I was very, very happy.”

A lunar occultation is a name given to the passage of the moon in front of a more distant object, reported the news daily.

Another image he described as being “from the movie I made of Saturn disappearing behind the moon last night”.

In one tweet, Dr Griffin said that at the time the accompanying image had been taken, “Saturn was 1.459 billion km from Earth”.

Griffin said, “The moon was a tad over 395,000 km away.”

“Science is cool!” he added.

In comments with a third image, he termed the celestial viewing “a brilliant night”.

“Who else saw Saturn disappear behind the moon?” he also asked.

Stay tuned for more updates!