{"id":9868,"date":"2015-02-06T02:40:42","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T07:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9868"},"modified":"2015-02-06T02:40:42","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T07:40:42","slug":"hubble-images-rare-triple-moon-transit-of-jupiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9868","title":{"rendered":"Hubble images rare triple moon transit of Jupiter"},"content":{"rendered":"

An\u00a0ESA Hubble<\/a>\u00a0team released the following cool images this week:<\/p>\n

March of the moons<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Hubble captures rare triple moon transit of Jupiter<\/em><\/p>\n

These new NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images capture a rare occurrence as three of Jupiter\u2019s largest moons parade across the giant gas planet\u2019s banded face. Hubble took a string of images of the event which show the three satellites \u2014 Europa, Callisto and Io \u2014 in action.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a><\/p>\n

There are four Galilean satellites<\/a> \u2014 named after the 17th century scientist Galileo Galilei<\/a> who discovered them [1]<\/a>. They complete orbits around Jupiter<\/a> ranging from two to seventeen days in duration. The moons can commonly be seen transiting<\/a> the face of Jupiter and casting shadows onto its layers of cloud. However, seeing three of them transiting the face of Jupiter at the same time is rare, occurring only once or twice a decade.<\/p>\n

The image on the left shows the Hubble observation at the beginning of the event. On the left is the moon Callisto<\/a> and on the right, Io<\/a>. The shadows from Callisto, Io and\u00a0Europa<\/a> are strung out from left to right. Europa itself cannot be seen in the image.<\/p>\n

The image on the right shows the end of the event, just over 40 minutes later. Europa has entered the frame at lower left with slower-moving Callisto above and to the right of it. Meanwhile Io \u2014 which orbits significantly closer to Jupiter and so moves much more quickly \u2014 is approaching the eastern limb of the planet. Whilst Callisto\u2019s shadow seems hardly to have moved, Io\u2019s has set over the planet\u2019s eastern edge and Europa\u2019s has risen further in the west. The event is also shown from start to finish in a video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Loading player…<\/div>\n