45 Cap, Europa and Io – Close Approach

By Mike Salway on August 4, 2009 in Astrophotography

Today (3rd/4th August) in parts of Europa, Africa, South America and the Middle East, Jupiter is due to occult the star 45 Cap – something that happens very, very rarely.

For other parts of the world, including mine, the star wasn’t occulted by Jupiter but instead gathered close enough in the field of view for a conjunction with Europa and Io while I was out imaging Jupiter this morning.

Here’s my image from the close approach. 45 Cap is on the far left, Europa is next, and Io (with albedo features) is on the far right.

45 Cap, Europa and Io Close Approach

Europa and Io were on a path to have their own occultation in about an hour from the time the image above was taken, but clouds came and ruined my chance to capture their encounter.

Jupiter images from the session, complete with the Wesley Impact Scar, will be posted later on.

Thanks for looking.

About Mike Salway

Mike Salway lives on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia and loves amateur astronomy, photography and karate. He co-founded the amateur astronomy website, IceInSpace, has a family with a wife and 3 kids, and is a 1st Dan Black Belt in Karate. In real life, Mike is a Product Manager for a software company.

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45 Cap, Conjunction, DMK21AU04, Europa, Io, Jupiter, Occultation

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8 Responses to 45 Cap, Europa and Io – Close Approach

Kevin Heider August 6, 2009 at 4:40 am #

Here is an image of 45 Capricorni (apmag 5.9) sitting above Ganymede (apmag 4.6).

Going left to right you should see Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and then Callisto, but Io is washed out in this 1 minute exposure.

Image taken by Kevin Heider using “LB-0004 in Pingelly, Western Australia (Observatory code: D24)”
2009-08-04 15:27 UT

45 Capricorni sitting above Ganymede

Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

45 Cap, Europa and Io conjunction - 3rd August 2009 - Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum - August 4, 2009
[...] 45 Cap is on the far left, Europa is next, and Io (with albedo features) is on the far right. 45 Cap, Europa and Io – Close Approach Europa and Io were on a path to have their own occultation in about an hour from the time the [...]
Jupiter with the Wesley Impact Scar – 3rd August | Mike Salway - August 6, 2009
[...] I was able to catch the 6th magnitude star 45 Cap in the same field of view as Europa and Io, which was a nice surprise. [...]
Jupiter - 3rd August - Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum - August 6, 2009
[...] the seeing reached a respectable almost 7/10 and gave some of my best views of Jupiter this year. I was able to catch the 6th magnitude star 45 Cap in the same field of view as Europa and Io, which was a nice [...]
A Picture of Star 45Cap, Europa and Io / Astronomy Cameras Blog - August 17, 2009
[...] More info available at Mike’s web at http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2009/08/04/45-cap-europa-and-io-close-approach. [...]
Conjonction de l’etoile 45 Cap, Europe et Io / Blog “caméras d’astronomie” - August 18, 2009
[...] mon image du rapprochement. 45 Cap est tout à fait à gauche, puis vient Europe et Io (avec les caractéristiques [...]
Conjonction de l’etoile 45 Cap, Europe et Io | Euroxis - August 19, 2009
[...] mon image du rapprochement. 45 Cap est tout à fait à gauche, puis vient Europe et Io (avec les caractéristiques [...]
Jupiter Pictures by Mike Salway / Astronomy Cameras Blog - August 27, 2009
[...] was able to catch the 6th magnitude star 45 Cap in the same field of view as Europa and Io, which was a nice [...]