VIDEO: Hubble’s Hat Trick

The space telescope captures three moons crossing the disk of Jupiter at the same time.

Hubble view of Jupiter moons transiting the planets surface on January 24, 2015. (NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team and G. Bacon (STScI/AURA))

By Tony Reichhardt

airspacemag.com
February 5, 2015

Astronomers routinely see the moons of other planets crossing in front of the worlds they orbit. But only once or twice a decade do they see three of Jupiter’s largest moons—Europa, Callisto and Io—“transiting” at the same time. The Hubble Space Telescope captured such a view on January 24—and caught a couple of smaller moons in the process. Click here for a larger version of the image.

Three of Jupiter's large moons (from left: Europa, Callisto, and Io) cross the face of the planet in this time-lapse view of Hubble Space Telescope images taken during a 42-minute stretch on January 24, 2015. Such triple transits are rarely seen. (Video: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team and G. Bacon - STScI/AURA)

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