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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
Jun 29 20:53 Io Begin Eclipse
Jun 29 23:13 Io End Occultation
Jun 30 07:21 Europa Begin Shadow Transit
Jun 30 07:32 Europa Begin Transit
Jun 30 10:02 Europa End Shadow Transit
Jun 30 10:14 Europa End Transit
Jun 30 18:14 Io Begin Shadow Transit
Jun 30 18:20 Io Begin Transit
Jun 30 20:28 Io End Shadow Transit
Jun 30 20:34 Io End Transit
Jul 1 05:28 Ganimede Begin Eclipse
Jul 1 08:52 Ganimede End Occultation
Jul 1 15:21 Io Begin Eclipse
Jul 1 17:43 Io End Occultation
Jul 2 02:30 Europa Begin Eclipse
Jul 2 05:27 Europa End Occultation
Jul 2 12:42 Io Begin Shadow Transit
Jul 2 12:51 Io Begin Transit
Jul 2 14:57 Io End Shadow Transit
Jul 2 15:05 Io End Transit
Jul 3 09:50 Io Begin Eclipse
Jul 3 12:13 Io End Occultation
Jul 3 20:39 Europa Begin Shadow Transit
Jul 3 20:57 Europa Begin Transit
Jul 3 23:20 Europa End Shadow Transit
Jul 3 23:39 Europa End Transit
Jul 4 07:11 Io Begin Shadow Transit
Jul 4 07:21 Io Begin Transit
Jul 4 09:25 Io End Shadow Transit
Jul 4 09:35 Io End Transit
Jul 4 19:34 Ganimede Begin Shadow Transit
Jul 4 20:15 Ganimede Begin Transit
Jul 4 22:30 Ganimede End Shadow Transit
Jul 4 23:13 Ganimede End Transit
Jul 5 04:19 Io Begin Eclipse
Jul 5 06:44 Io End Occultation
Jul 5 15:48 Europa Begin Eclipse
Jul 5 18:52 Europa End Occultation
Jul 6 01:40 Io Begin Shadow Transit
Jul 6 01:51 Io Begin Transit
Jul 6 03:54 Io End Shadow Transit
Jul 6 04:06 Io End Transit
Jul 6 22:47 Io Begin Eclipse

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.