What is that dark smudge on Jupiter? It may remind you of a scene from the sci-fi film, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, where a black spot appears in Jupiter's atmosphere.
There is a dark spot in the photo, but it is just a shadow of Jupiter's largest moon. When Jupiter's moons cross between the gas giant and the Sun, they create shadows as well.
The 40th close pass by the giant planet was captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft. The image was taken by the camera on the craft and processed by a citizen scientist. People around the world are actively participating in science investigation through the public outreach project. Citizen scientists have processed the stunning images taken by JunoCam, as well as developing time-lapse movies, measuring wind flow, and looking for lightning flashes.
Brian Swift created a graphic showing the approximate geometry of the visible area, projected onto a globe of Jupiter.
Brian Swift processed the image data from NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS.
The image was taken at a latitude of 55 degrees south and a distance of 666,000 miles from Jupiter.
You would experience a total eclipse of the Sun if you were lucky enough to be observer at Jupiter's cloud tops. NASA says that Jupiter has more total eclipses than Earth. Jupiter has four large moons that pass between it and the Sun in a seven day period. The moon shadows are cast upon the planet because Jupiter's moons are in a plane close to the planet.
Even amateur telescopes on Earth can see Jupiter's moons and their shadows. John Chumack took this image.
The public can peruse and process into images the raw images here. Information about NASA's citizen science projects can be found here.
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