Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Jupiter Triple-Moon Conjunction

NASA ^ | February 06, 2015 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Our solar system's ruling giant planet Jupiter and 3 of its 4 large Galilean moons are captured in this single Hubble snapshot from January 24. Crossing in front of Jupiter's banded cloud tops Europa, Callisto, and Io are framed from lower left to upper right in a rare triple-moon conjunction. Distinguishable by colors alone icy Europa is almost white, Callisto's ancient cratered surface looks dark brown, and volcanic Io appears yellowish. The transiting moons and moon shadows can be identified by sliding your cursor over the image, or following this link. Remarkably, two small, inner Jovian moons, Amalthea and Thebe, along with their shadows, can also be found in the sharp Hubble view. The Galilean moons have diameters of 3,000 to 5,000 kilometers or so, comparable in size to Earth's moon. But odd-shaped Amalthea and Thebe are only about 260 and 100 kilometers across respectively.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)]

[SunkenCiv]

2015 APoD Calendar

The Big One

join or quit list APoD 'blog post new APoD topic Astronomy Picture of the Day topic & keyword Astronomy Chat, Bloggers & keyword Science Chat, Bloggers & keyword NASA's APoD archive Calendar 1995-present APoD on your desktop

[left that other site]

Not a terrestrial shot!

A Jovial one, though! :-)

[alexander_busek]

Needs a black monolith perpendicular to the moons' ecliptic for more effect.

Regards,

[left that other site]

And a freaky Choir singing in the background! :-)

[TheOldLady]

That’s amazing.

Once they tell you where to look, you can even see the two itty
bitty moons and their shadows, even in the picture in the OP.

Great APOD, Mr. Civilizations! Thank you.

[SunkenCiv]

:’)