Centaur
28-March-2009, 05:50 PM
The Earth passes through Jupiter’s equatorial plane approximately once every six years and will next do so on 2009 APR 16. The orbital planes of Jupiter’s four great Galilean satellites lie close to the planet’s equatorial plane. That means now we’re in a period that allows for the mutual occultation/transits and shadow occultation/transits among the satellites, i.e. satellite to satellite and not necessarily involving Jupiter.
Below is my calculated list of mutual satellite events for the week beginning 2009 APR 05; none involves a shadow and no others occur between now and then. The data is geocentric, but will be hardly any different for all locations on Earth.
The event highlighted in bold font will be well timed for many North Americans. I’ve created two graphics related to that transit. The first shows a view of the satellite system from well above Jupiter’s north pole to help get a better perspective on what is happening. The second is a magnified preview of the event as seen from Earth. They can be seen by clicking: http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
A transit occurs when a body passes in front of one with a larger angular diameter.
An occultation occurs when a body passes in front of one with a smaller angular diameter.
#1 Io
#2 Europa
#3 Ganymede
#4 Callisto
2009 APR 05
07:23:56 UT #1 begins partial transit of #4
07:29:16 UT #1 transits southern 73% of diameter of #4
07:34:44 UT #1 ends partial transit of #4
2009 APR 05
18:48:57 UT #1 begins partial transit of #4
18:56:48 UT #1 transits southern 74% of diameter of #4
19:04:36 UT #1 ends partial transit of #4
2009 APR 05
23:26:45 UT #3 begins partial occultation of #4
23:28:01 UT #3 occults northern 5% of diameter of #4
23:29:19 UT #3 ends partial occultation of #4
2009 APR 06
09:58:56 UT #1 begins partial transit of #4
10:03:03 UT #1 transits northern 61% of diameter of #4
10:07:09 UT #1 ends partial transit of #4
2009 APR 09
23:55:43 UT #1 begins partial transit of #3
23:57:50 UT #1 transits northern 16% of diameter of #3
23:59:58 UT #1 ends partial transit of #3
Photos and descriptions of these events would be welcome additions to this thread.
Below is my calculated list of mutual satellite events for the week beginning 2009 APR 05; none involves a shadow and no others occur between now and then. The data is geocentric, but will be hardly any different for all locations on Earth.
The event highlighted in bold font will be well timed for many North Americans. I’ve created two graphics related to that transit. The first shows a view of the satellite system from well above Jupiter’s north pole to help get a better perspective on what is happening. The second is a magnified preview of the event as seen from Earth. They can be seen by clicking: http://www.curtrenz.com/astronomical.html
A transit occurs when a body passes in front of one with a larger angular diameter.
An occultation occurs when a body passes in front of one with a smaller angular diameter.
#1 Io
#2 Europa
#3 Ganymede
#4 Callisto
2009 APR 05
07:23:56 UT #1 begins partial transit of #4
07:29:16 UT #1 transits southern 73% of diameter of #4
07:34:44 UT #1 ends partial transit of #4
2009 APR 05
18:48:57 UT #1 begins partial transit of #4
18:56:48 UT #1 transits southern 74% of diameter of #4
19:04:36 UT #1 ends partial transit of #4
2009 APR 05
23:26:45 UT #3 begins partial occultation of #4
23:28:01 UT #3 occults northern 5% of diameter of #4
23:29:19 UT #3 ends partial occultation of #4
2009 APR 06
09:58:56 UT #1 begins partial transit of #4
10:03:03 UT #1 transits northern 61% of diameter of #4
10:07:09 UT #1 ends partial transit of #4
2009 APR 09
23:55:43 UT #1 begins partial transit of #3
23:57:50 UT #1 transits northern 16% of diameter of #3
23:59:58 UT #1 ends partial transit of #3
Photos and descriptions of these events would be welcome additions to this thread.