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Timezone: Europe/London
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Find it in the Sky

Select a Solar System object and a date & time and view its location on our interactive planetarium.
Time: : UTC

Jupiter's Galilean Moons

Using this application it is possible to compute and visualize the positions of Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto - also known as the Galilean Satellites of Jupiter - in real time or at any given time in the past and in the future.

Date: 
Time:  Europe/London
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Direct view is presenting the image as it would be seen through a binocular or any other erect-image system. Inverted view is typically provided by a Newtonian reflector telescope. Mirrored view is presenting the image as it would be seen through a Schmidt–Cassegrain/Maksutov/Refractor telescope with a diagonal adapter.

Upcoming Galilean Moons Phenomena

The following table lists all the upcoming events involving Jupiter's Galilean moons in the next 7 days.

Date Local Time Satellite Event
May 24 15:55 Io End Transit
May 24 16:26 Io End Shadow Transit
May 25 10:50 Io Begin Occultation
May 25 13:35 Io End Eclipse
May 25 17:24 Europa Begin Transit
May 25 18:23 Europa Begin Shadow Transit
May 25 20:02 Europa End Transit
May 25 21:02 Europa End Shadow Transit
May 26 07:32 Ganimede Begin Occultation
May 26 08:11 Io Begin Transit
May 26 08:41 Io Begin Shadow Transit
May 26 10:25 Io End Transit
May 26 10:55 Io End Shadow Transit
May 26 12:20 Ganimede End Eclipse
May 27 05:21 Io Begin Occultation
May 27 08:03 Io End Eclipse
May 27 12:32 Europa Begin Occultation
May 27 16:09 Europa End Eclipse
May 28 02:42 Io Begin Transit
May 28 03:09 Io Begin Shadow Transit
May 28 04:56 Io End Transit
May 28 05:24 Io End Shadow Transit
May 28 23:51 Io Begin Occultation
May 29 02:32 Io End Eclipse
May 29 06:48 Europa Begin Transit
May 29 07:41 Europa Begin Shadow Transit
May 29 09:27 Europa End Transit
May 29 10:20 Europa End Shadow Transit
May 29 21:12 Io Begin Transit
May 29 21:38 Io Begin Shadow Transit
May 29 21:53 Ganimede Begin Transit
May 29 23:26 Io End Transit
May 29 23:37 Ganimede Begin Shadow Transit
May 29 23:37 Unknown Unknown
May 29 23:52 Io End Shadow Transit
May 29 23:52 Unknown Unknown
May 30 00:42 Ganimede End Transit
May 30 02:27 Ganimede End Shadow Transit
May 30 18:22 Io Begin Occultation
May 30 21:00 Io End Eclipse
May 31 01:57 Europa Begin Occultation
May 31 05:28 Europa End Eclipse
May 31 15:43 Io Begin Transit
May 31 16:07 Io Begin Shadow Transit
May 31 17:57 Io End Transit
May 31 18:21 Io End Shadow Transit

Events are defined as follows:

  • Occultation: the satellite is moving behind Jupiter from our perspective, so the satellite hides when the occultation begins and reappears when the occultation ends.
  • Eclipse: the satellite is moving inside Jupiter's shadow. Sunlight is blocked by Jupiter and the satellite, no longer directly illuminated, is seen to disappear when the eclipse starts and reappear then the eclipse ends.
  • Transit: the satellite is moving in front of Jupiter's disk. Depending on the conditions, the satellite can sometimes be difficult to see during a transit, appearing as slightly lighter or darker than Jupiter's clouds.
  • Shadow Transit: the shadow of the satellite is moving on Jupiter's disk. The shadow typically appears as a dark circular spot clearly visible on Jupiter's clouds. This event, as seen from jupiter, is analogous to a solar eclipse.

Credits

The algorithms to compute the positions of the Galilean Moons used in this application are based on the jsaa project (Javascript Implementation of Astronomical Algorithms) which, in turn, is based on algorithms published by Jean Meeus on his Astronomical Algorithms book.