Moons and Jupiter
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Göran Strand
On April 10, a Full Moon and Jupiter shared this telephoto field of view.
Both were near opposition, opposite the Sun in Earth's night sky.
Captured when a passing cloud bank dimmmed the bright moonlight,
the single exposure reveals the familiar
face of our fair planet's own large natural satellite, along
with a line up of the ruling gas giant's four Galilean moons.
Labeled top to bottom,
the tiny pinpricks of light above bright Jupiter are
Callisto,
Europa,
Ganymede, and
Io.
Closer and brighter, our own natural satellite appears to loom large.
But Callisto, Ganymede, and Io are physically larger than Earth's Moon,
while water
world Europa is only slightly smaller.
In fact, of the Solar System's six
largest
planetary satellites, only Saturn's moon Titan is missing
from the scene.