columbiascience:

Europa: as the human eye might see it (colors adjusted, Credit: NASA/JPL/Ted Stryk)

by Caleb Scharf

Jupiter’s enigmatic moon Europa has long been thought to contain a huge ocean beneath its icy crust, but what is in that ocean and does it ever come to the surface?

Since the Voyager and Galileo probes explored the Jovian system, its moons have presented an extraordinary and fascinating puzzle. The largest of the 67 known moons are the ones that Galileo Galilei watched wend their way around Jupiter’s bulk back in the early 1600′s – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. These bodies are remarkable both for their size (Ganymede is 8% larger in diameter than the planet Mercury, Callisto is 99% Mercury’s size) and their diversity.

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sorry jupiter lovers

stellar-indulgence:

Montage of Jupiter and the Galilean satellites, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

(via atimeandspace)

distant-traveller:

Triple eclipse

At first glance, Jupiter looks like it has a mild case of the measles. Five spots — one colored white, one blue, and three black are scattered across the upper half of the planet. Closer inspection by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope reveals that these spots are actually a rare alignment of three of Jupiter’s largest moons — Io, Ganymede, and Callisto — across the planet’s face. In this image, the telltale signatures of this alignment are the shadows [the three black circles] cast by the moons. Io’s shadow is located just above center and to the left; Ganymede’s on the planet’s left edge; and Callisto’s near the right edge. Only two of the moons, however, are visible in this image. Io is the white circle in the center of the image, and Ganymede is the blue circle at upper right. Callisto is out of the image and to the right.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

thenewenlightenmentage:

Looking Down at Jupiter

emberfly:

If Jupiter were the same distance from Earth as the moon.

this would be cool, minus the deadly radiation of jupiter part.

the-star-stuff:

Jupiter Grazes the Moon

Jupiter very close to the Moon on December 25th 2012. Photographed by Luis Argerich.

creativepretence:

Jupiter by Danielle Butterflies

(via corallina)

universetoday:

This is an image of Jupiter captured by Mike Phillips during our Virtual Star Party on Google+. Every Sunday night we connect up a bunch of telescopes into a live Google+ hangout and showcase the night sky. We’ll even take requests. #jupiter #starparty #astronomy