                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2022 February 4

                              Moons at Twilight
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Fedez

   Explanation: Even though Jupiter was the only planet visible in the
   evening sky on February 2, it shared the twilight above the western
   horizon with the Solar System's brightest moons. In a single exposure
   made just after sunset, the Solar System's ruling gas giant is at the
   upper right in this telephoto field-of-view from Cancun, Mexico. The
   snapshot also captures our fair planet's own natural satellite in its
   young crescent phase. The Moon's disk looms large, its familiar face
   illuminated mostly by earthshine. But the four points of light lined-up
   with Jupiter are Jupiter's own large Galilean moons. Top to bottom are
   Ganymede, [Jupiter], Io, Europa, and Callisto. Ganymede, Io, and
   Callisto are physically larger than Earth's Moon while water world
   Europa is only slightly smaller.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

