Transit of Jupiter from Titan in 2080? |
Transit of Jupiter from Titan in 2080? |
Dec 17 2006, 05:45 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 117 Joined: 7-December 06 From: Sheffield UK Member No.: 1462 |
The Cassini spacecraft wasn't able to image the 13 January 2005 transit of Earth visible from Saturn but one of its successors may well be able to capture a view of one of the most spectacular transits of all, that of Jupiter.
I ran some calculations in 2004 and found that on the 19 May 2080 as seen from Titan (and its vicinity) Jupiter will transit the Sun. The underbelly of the giant planet will graze over the Sun’s northern tip creating an impressive 40.47 arc second dent in our star and blocking around four percent of its light. Jupiter’s north may escape the Sun but it will be ringed by fire as sunlight is bent through its Hydrogen atmosphere towards Titan, giving valuable clues to its exact chemical composition. This event is incredibly rare, having last occurred in 86 AD and after the 2080 event there will no repeat until the year 7541. I used JPL's Solar System simulator to get an image of the event, but as it now only simulates up to 2025, I cannot reproduce the simulation. Can anyone confirm that this event will occur from Titan on 19 May 2080? -------------------- It's a funny old world - A man's lucky if he gets out of it alive. - W.C. Fields.
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Dec 18 2006, 08:49 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 117 Joined: 7-December 06 From: Sheffield UK Member No.: 1462 |
The image I got off JPL's Solar System Simulator shows mid transit at around 17.00 GMT on 19 May 2080. Any more info would be great as I've been meaning to get around to investigating this event further since Dec 2004 when I discovered it would occur.
-------------------- It's a funny old world - A man's lucky if he gets out of it alive. - W.C. Fields.
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Dec 19 2006, 06:24 AM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 73 Joined: 14-June 05 From: Cambridge, MA Member No.: 411 |
The image I got off JPL's Solar System Simulator shows mid transit at around 17.00 GMT on 19 May 2080. Any more info would be great as I've been meaning to get around to investigating this event further since Dec 2004 when I discovered it would occur. I'm using Starry Night Pro 6, and I get the same answers as James. Furthermore, can anyone verify the following? Just as Jupiter is ending its transit, Ganymede appears (2080/05/21 3:43 UT) and it too begins a transit. That transit concludes at 22:20 UT on the 22nd. Meanwhile, Europa begins a transit at 17:12 UT, passes less than 3" from Ganymede (18:33 UT on 2080/05/21) while both are still on the Sun's disk (!), and leaves at 01:24 UT on the 22nd. I hope I'm not pushing the accuracy of this software past its reasonable limits... - John Sheff Cambridge, MA |
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