Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, located 778 million km from the sun. This is more than 5 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Jupiter For many years it has been the subject of research by scientists. A special one has been running since 2016 NASA mission Aimed at observing the gas giant and its moons.
This unique image was taken on February 25, 2022 and then digitally processed. When the photo is taken NASA Juno probe It was 71,000 km from Jupiter, or about 15 times closer than Jupiter Ganymede’s moon.
Thanks to this, it was possible to capture a unique phenomenon – A natural satellite casts a huge shadow on the planet, which can be seen in its upper left. Juno’s fortieth voyage was around Jupiter as part of a six-year space mission.
The fifth planet in the solar system fascinates scientists mainly because of its size. Jupiter belongs to the so-called gas giants – their equatorial diameter is 142,984 km. It is 2.5 times larger than all the other planets in the solar system combined. It is also the third – after the Moon and Venus – the brightest object in our sky.
Ganymede is the strongest moon of Jupiter, and larger than Mercury. It is located about 1.1 million kilometers from its host. There are up to 4 large satellites in the orbit of the planet – except for Ganymede, these are Callisto, Io and Europa.
Due to the large number of satellites, including those close to Jupiter at a shorter distance than a natural satellite to Earth, Total solar eclipses are more common there. In just one week, Ganymede travels between Jupiter and the sun once, the moon Europa twice, and the moon Io four times.
NASA scientists explain it If a man finds himself in a shaded area of Ganymede, he may witness one of these total eclipses. Of course, this is currently impossible for many reasons.
On Earth, a total solar eclipse is an extremely rare astronomical phenomenonIt lasts for a few minutes and can only be seen from certain places on Earth. The last total solar eclipse occurred in December 2020 and was visible over the South Pacific, Chile and Argentina.
Scientists have calculated that we will be able to observe them again in 2026. It will be visible from Europe, incl. Spain, Iceland and the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia.
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