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Credit & Copyright: Greg Gibbs
(Capturing the Night
Explanation:
Sometimes the Moon is a busy direction.
Last week, for example, our very
Moon passed in front of the planet Jupiter.
While capturing this unusual spectacle from
New South Wales,
Australia,
a quick-thinking astrophotographer realized that a nearby plane
might itself pass in front of the Moon,
and so quickly reset his camera to take a continuous series of short duration shots.
As hoped, for a brief instant, that
airplane, the Moon,
and Jupiter were all visible in a single exposure, which is
shown
above.
But the project was not complete -- a longer exposure was then taken to bring up
three of the Jupiter's own moons:
Io, Calisto, and Europa (from left to right).
Unfortunately, this triple spectacle soon disappeared.
Less than a second later, the
plane flew away from the Moon.
A few seconds after that,
the Moon moved
to cover all of Jupiter.
A few minutes after that,
Jupiter reappeared on the other side of the Moon,
and even a few minutes after that the Moon moved completely away from Jupiter.
Although hard to catch,
planes cross in front of the Moon
quite frequently, but the
Moon won't eclipse Jupiter again for another three years.
Reader Challenge:
Hard: What type of airplane is this?
Really hard: What was the flight number?
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon - Jupiter - Jupiter's Moons
Publications with words: Moon - Jupiter - Jupiter's Moons
See also: