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11/22/2024 03:28:44 am

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Hubble Photographs Rare Triple Moon Parade in front of Jupiter

Jupiter's Triple Moon

(Photo : NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)) Three of Jupiter's four largest moons appeared in a recent Hubble photo.

Jupiter hosts 67 confirmed moons, the largest lunar portfolio in the solar system. But even with so many moons, it's rare three moons lining up in "front" of Jupiter often happens.

The Hubble Space Telescope came through big time in January when it photographed a string of images showing three of Jupiter's largest moons (Europa, Callisto and Io) passing in front of the planet's face at the same time.

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Scientists say seeing three moons back lit by Jupiter's glow is something only happens once or twice a decade.

The two shots were taken on January 23 (43 minutes apart) by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in visible light. The Europa sighting comes just days after Obama put forth his budget proposal for NASA in 2016 that include funding for an unmanned trip to Europa.

Perhaps the most intriguing of the three moons appearing in the latest image is Europa, an icy satellite scientists say likely features salty, churning oceans under its frozen outer crust. NASA's newest budget proposal has given the green light to plans for flying a probe to Europa.

"We're conducting what we're calling the '2020 vision' for Hubble, and that is to make sure that the observatory is ready to run for at least five or six years to get at least a year of overlap with James Webb, if not more," said Kenneth Sembach of the Space Telescope Science Institute in January.

Hubble has been in space for about 25 years and NASA hopes it will remain functional until 2020 or even beyond.

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