What great shadow seems to pierce Jupiter

Perhaps in the future science will be able to transport us to distant worlds: even without changing the constellation or galaxy, but who knows what is hidden in the coils of Saturn or JupiterOur giant neighbors.

But for now, we have to “feel good” with the photos and shots you took Satellites and telescopes. Which are often exciting and tell very interesting stories.

image of Jupiter

This time it’s all about the probe Juno, from NASA, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, studying its rotation, the composition of the atmosphere and the magnetic strength of its poles. Thanks to her, we also know a lot about what is happening on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter and A potential filter for a cosmic body with liquid water. Its journey to reach Jupiter was long: it left Earth in 2011, reaching the gaseous planet’s orbit five years later, in 2016. The mission, barring unexpected events, should continue until 2025.

We said the Juno probe captured a picture of Jupiter during its 40-year run to the giant planet, on February 25, 2022, but it’s only been announced now. Great Shade The darkness on the left side of the image was shown by Jupiter’s other moon, Ganymede.

In particular, the photo was taken by JunoCamWhich, as the name implies, is a modern camera installed on the Juno. The room was very close to Jupiter, making Ganymede’s shadow appear especially large. At the time the initial image was taken, the spacecraft was about 71,000 kilometers above Jupiter’s cloud tops, at about 55 degrees south latitude, and 15 times closer to Ganymede, which orbits about 1 million kilometers from Jupiter.

Then the initial image was worked on in a project by Citizen sciencein particular by researcher Thomas Thumopoulos, who created this color picture Enhanced with data from the JunoCam tool. Another volunteer on the project, Brian Swift, used the same data to illustrate the approximate geometry of the visible region, projected onto a globe representing Jupiter.

Jupiter and its moons

Let’s unleash the imagination: what will be a file Foreman If she was in that shadow area?

Anyone on top of Jupiter’s clouds within the shaded elliptical space would experience atotal solar eclipse. Total eclipses are more common on Jupiter than on Earth, for several reasons. First of all, the gas giant has four major moons (or Galilean moons) that pass between Jupiter and the Sun more than it does between the Moon and Earth: in seven days, Ganymede passes once, Europa twice, and Io four times.

Attitude orbitals And how these intersect each other: since the moons of Jupiter orbit in a plane close to the planet’s orbit, they often cast shadows on its surface. However, the relationship between Jupiter and Io is very exciting: it is clear that there will be an ongoing relationship between the two cosmic bodies. Magnetic rope pull With very special results.