This CCD image shows the shadow of Jupiter's moon Io crossing the face of the planet. Io is the closest moon to Jupiter. The moon's shadow is visible as the dark spot to the right of center on the face of Jupiter. In this image, Io can be seen just to the right of Jupiter. Io is a volcanic moon that orbits deep inside Jupiter's magnetosphere where it is bombarded by high levels of radiation.
Jupiter is a gas giant like Saturn. It is brighter than all of the other planets except Venus. Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active object in the solar system. However, Io does not have the largest volcano in the solar system. That honor belongs to Mars.
This image was taken with ToUCam Pro webcam using a Takahashi FCT-150 telescope and a TeleVue 4x PowerMate. This image was taken from my backyard in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Constellation: Leo
RA: 11h 21m 06.9s Dec: +05d 30' 47"
January 3, 2004 at 0947 U.T.
Image by Sid Leach
Scottsdale, Arizona
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