Photo of the Week for March 25, 2016

Jupiter is in prime position for telescopic viewing right now. The big planet rides high in the sky and is visible almost all night long. Among the most rewarding Jovian sights are the comings and goings of its four brightest moons. Sometimes these satellites pass in front of Jupiter and cast their shadows on the planet’s cloud-top “surface.” The collection of Jupiter shots presented here was captured by Sainte-Anne de Kent, New Brunswick, imager Emile Cormier. The sequence shows the moons Io and Europa over a four-hour period on March 15, 2016, as they make their way across Jupiter, their respective shadows trailing behind them. (Europa’s shadow leads Io’s shadow in the sequence above.) Also prominent late in the sequence is the Great Red Spot.

Emile captured this set of Jupiter portraits with a Celestron NexImage 5 colour CCD video camera attached to a 10-inch f/4.7 Sky-Watcher Dobsonian telescope. Dozens of video frames were extracted and stacked to produce each individual image.