Galilean moons, First Place

First place in the 2021 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Galilean moons: Jupiter, Io and its shadow, by Ralf Burkart, Germany.

This time-lapse of Jupiter taken in 2017 from Germany beautifully illustrates the transit of one of the Galilean moons, Io, in front of Jupiter. As this is simply a moon casting a shadow on a planet it is equivalent to a lunar eclipse on Earth observed from further away. While the shadow of the moon is clearly visible from the beginning, it might be difficult to spot the moon itself against the background of the beautiful atmospheric bands of Jupiter the first time the video is seen. Watching it repeatedly allows appreciating the rapid motion and rotation in this fantastic observation.

Link:

• See video in Zenodo