This webcam and telescope image of banded gas giant Jupiter shows the transit of
three
shadows cast by Jupiter's moons in progress, captured in Belgian skies on
October 12 at 0528 UT. Such a three shadow transit is a relatively rare event,
even
for a large planet with many moons. Visible in the frame are the three
Galilean moons responsible, Callisto
at the far left edge, Io
closest to Jupiter's disk, and
Europa
below and just left of Io. Of their shadows on the sunlit Jovian cloud tops, Callisto casts
the most elongated one near the planet's south polar region at the bottom. Io's
shadow is above and right of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Of course viewed from
Jupiter's perspective, these shadow crossings could be seen as solar eclipses,
analogous to the Moon's shadow crossing the sunlit
face of planet Earth.
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