APOD: Shadows Across Jupiter (2013 Feb 15)

[APOD Robot]

Shadows Across Jupiter

Explanation: Two dark shadows loom across the banded and mottled cloud tops of Jupiter in this sharp telescopic view. In fact, captured on January 3rd, about a month after the ruling gas giant appeared at opposition in planet Earth's sky, the scene includes the shadow casters. Visible in remarkable detail at the left are the large Galilean moons Ganymede (top) and Io. With the two moon shadows still in transit, Jupiter's rapid rotation has almost carried its famous Great Red Spot (GRS) around the planet's limb from the right. The pale GRS was preceded by the smaller but similar hued Oval BA, dubbed Red Spot Jr., near top center. North is down in the inverted image.

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[Beyond]

Huh, i never realized that Io was red. Musta missed something somewhere.

[Ann]

Huh, i never realized that Io was red. Musta missed something somewhere.

Io is actually yellow, though with red markings on it.

Today's APOD is very nice. It's fascinating that Jupiter's two hemispheres are so different. Just look at all the ovals that floating around in the southern half (at top in today's image). There are virtually none in the other hemisphere. Fascinating!

Ganymede and Io sure look great here!

I love the large blue-grey "festoon", which is seen right at Jupiter's "navel". This festoon, apart from having a nice color, looks eerily like a steam ship, sailing a "sea of brown". (Now who sang "a sea of green" - was it the Beatles?)

Ann

[Boomer12k]

Huh, i never realized that Io was red. Musta missed something somewhere.

Go to your google search, click IMAGES tab and type in IO, I think you will see what you missed.

Also search Why is Io yellow, or Red.

It is probably a little overexposed in this picture.

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[Boomer12k]

Who do I have to kill to get a photo like that?????

Not that I would...mind you...

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[saturno2]

Ganymede and Io in a image very interesting of Jupiter.
Jupiter has rapid rotation aprox. 10 hours for cycle.
Much speed for we.

[MargaritaMc]

Ann asked This festoon, apart from having a nice color, looks eerily like a steam ship, sailing a "sea of brown". (Now who sang "a sea of green" - was it the Beatles?)

Yes! In the song 'Yellow Submarine'.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

I can fancifully imagine having a jovian submarine to go beneath those clouds...

M.

[MargaritaMc]

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 09#p193009

regarding yesterday's fireball.
M

[OrionEridanus]

It is amazing to me that this is a ground based "backyard" astronomer image. Wow. Wow. Wow.

http://www.damianpeach.com/observatory.htm

[jm3]

I'm thinking a circular shadow projected onto a sphere should look more oval shaped. Any ideas why it's a circle?

[geckzilla]

I'm thinking a circular shadow projected onto a sphere should look more oval shaped. Any ideas why it's a circle?

Try taking a couple of spheres yourself and using them to cast shadows on one another. Depending on where you are looking at them from and how the shadow is projected it could look perfectly circular or very elongated. Since we can't reach into the picture and rotate it around it's difficult for our brains to place the objects three dimensionally.

[Chris Peterson]

I'm thinking a circular shadow projected onto a sphere should look more oval shaped. Any ideas why it's a circle?

Because we are almost directly in line with the Sun and the bodies casting the shadows. From such a perspective, the shadows will always have the same shape as the bodies that cast them. In fact, the shadows are quite oval- but because we are viewing them obliquely, they appear round.

[Craig Willford]

I know this is off-topic for the Jupiter picture shown as today's APOD but my question cannot wait until tomorrow or later when the asteroid fly-by is past tense and images start coming in.

What I would like is a website that would allow me to put in my Latitude and Longitude and give me a star chart showing the asteroid fly-by path with time ticks in either Universal Time or local time.

I have a moderate telescope that should be able to easily see the thing at 7.4 magnitude, but I need to know where to look.

Sincerely,

Craig Willford

[bystander]

http://eyes.nasa.gov/

[andresgris]

At first I was wondering why Jupiter's bands appear mostly straight, given that we're both on the ecliptic. It appears the answer is that Jupiter's axial tilt is only 3 degrees! No wonder it has such strong latitudinal zonation...