Jupiter's moon Ganymede casts shadow on giant planet

Ever wonder what an eclipse in Jupiter looks like?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday shared a photo showing a huge shadow on the planet's surface. The dark spot was cast by Ganymede, one of Jupiter's many moons, during an eclipse.

The image was captured by the Juno spacecraft on February 25 and was color-enhanced by citizen scientist Thomas Thomopoulos using raw data from the JunoCam instrument.

"Eclipses on Jupiter are more common than what we experience on Earth," NASA said. "Since Jupiter's moons orbit in a plane close to Jupiter's orbital plane, the moon shadows are often cast upon the planet."

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by NASA (@nasa)

According to NASA, Jupiter has four major moons that frequently pass between the gas giant and the Sun. Ganymede transits once a week, Europa twice, and Io four times.

Ganymede's orbit is around 1.1 million kilometers away from Jupiter.

—MGP, GMA News