Ganymede's Shadow
Approaching
opposition
early next month, Jupiter is offering
some of its best telescopic views from planet Earth.
On March 17, this impressively sharp image of the solar system's
ruling gas giant was taken from a remote observatory in Chile.
Bounded by
planet girdling winds, familiar dark belts and light zones
span the giant planet spotted with rotating
oval storms.
The solar system's
largest moon Ganymede is above and left in the frame,
its shadow seen in transit across the northern
Jovian
cloud tops.
Ganymede itself is seen in remarkable detail along with bright
surface features on fellow Galilean moon Io,
right of Jupiter's looming disk.