Astronomy club treated to perfect night skies and witnesses occultation of Io.

The Astronomy Club held its first night-time viewing of the year on Thursday. The sky was perfectly clear, and about 20 students attended. Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and the Ring Nebula were the subjects of the viewing. See some of the pictures below from our observatory. All four Galilean moons of Jupiter were visible: Io, Europe, Ganymede, and Callisto. The club was treated to an occultation of Io, the closest moon to Jupiter, which slowly but steadily revolved around Jupiter’s backside and disappeared from sight right in front of our eyes. Io is approximately the same distance from Jupiter as our Moon is from Earth, yet it takes just 42.5 hours for Io to revolve around Jupiter. A trained observer can almost see Io move around Jupiter through the telescope.

In addition to these pictures of Jupiter and Saturn, the Club also saw the mysterious Ring Nebula. The second photo below is a professional photo of the ring nebula. The Club saw the ring as it appears in the first photo.