Io Eclipse Shadow on Jupiter from Juno
Explanation:
What's that dark spot on Jupiter?
It's the shadow of
Jupiter's most volcanic moon
Io.
Since Jupiter shines predominantly by reflected sunlight,
anything that blocks that light
leaves a shadow.
If you could somehow be in that shadow, you would see a
total eclipse of the Sun by
Io.
Io's shadow is about
3600 kilometers across, roughly the same size as
Io itself -- and only slightly larger than
Earth's Moon.
The
featured
image was
taken
last month by NASA's robotic
Juno spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter.
About every two months,
Juno swoops
close by Jupiter, takes a lot of data and snaps a series of images --
some of which are
made into
a video.
Among many other things, Juno has been measuring Jupiter's gravitational field, finding
surprising evidence that Jupiter may be mostly a liquid.
Under unexpectedly thick clouds, the Jovian giant may house a massive
liquid hydrogen
region that extends all the way to the center.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
