Jupiter, behind the Moon and Venus, is the third brightest natural item in the Earths night sky, and it has actually been seen since prehistoric times.
Figure 2. Illustration of the approximate geometry of the Ganymedes shadow predicted onto a world of Jupiter.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ MSSS, Image processing by Brian Swift © CC BY
JunoCam captured this image from extremely near Jupiter, making Ganymedes shadow appear especially big. Figure 2, produced by resident researcher Brian Swift using JunoCam information, illustrates the approximate geometry of the visible area, forecasted onto a globe of Jupiter.
JunoCams raw images are readily available for the public to process and browse into image items at https://missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing.
Jupiter is the biggest planet in the Solar System and the 5th world from the Sun. It is a gas giant with a mass that is more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System integrated, but is just about one-thousandth the mass of the Sun. Jupiter, behind the Moon and Venus, is the third brightest natural object in the Earths night sky, and it has been discovered because prehistoric times. It was called after Jupiter, the Roman god and king of the gods.
Ganymede, a satellite of the planet Jupiter, is the largest and most massive of the Solar Systems moons. It is the ninth-biggest things in the Solar System (consisting of the Sun) and the biggest without a significant environment. It has a size of 5,268 kilometers (3,273 miles), making it 26 percent bigger by volume than Mercury, but it is just 45 percent as massive..
At the time the raw image was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 44,000 miles (71,000 kilometers) above Jupiters cloud tops, at a latitude of about 55 degrees south, and 15 times closer than Ganymede, which orbits about 666,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) away from Jupiter. Jupiter has four significant moons (Galilean satellites) that typically pass between Jupiter and the Sun: in seven days, Ganymede transits when; Europa, two times; and Io, four times. And since Jupiters moons orbit in an aircraft close to Jupiters orbital aircraft, the moon shadows are typically cast upon the planet.
Person scientist Thomas Thomopoulos created this enhanced-color image utilizing raw data from the JunoCam instrument. At the time the raw image was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 44,000 miles (71,000 kilometers) above Jupiters cloud tops, at a latitude of about 55 degrees south, and 15 times closer than Ganymede, which orbits about 666,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) away from Jupiter.
NASAs Juno spacecraft captured this spectacular view of Jupiter during the objectives 40th close go by the giant world on February 25, 2022. The large, dark shadow on the left side of the image was cast by Jupiters moon Ganymede.
Person researcher Thomas Thomopoulos developed this enhanced-color image using raw data from the JunoCam instrument (Figure 1). At the time the raw image was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 44,000 miles (71,000 kilometers) above Jupiters cloud tops, at a latitude of about 55 degrees south, and 15 times closer than Ganymede, which orbits about 666,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) away from Jupiter.
An observer at Jupiters cloud tops within the oval shadow would experience an overall eclipse of the Sun. Overall eclipses are more common on Jupiter than Earth for numerous factors. Jupiter has four major moons (Galilean satellites) that frequently pass in between Jupiter and the Sun: in 7 days, Ganymede transits when; Europa, two times; and Io, four times. And because Jupiters moons orbit in an airplane close to Jupiters orbital plane, the moon shadows are typically cast upon the world.