Spectacular Views: The Moon Occults Jupiter

Caption: July 15 2012 occultation, taken with Canon 550D on Newton 200/1200 mounted on NEQ6Pro. Credit: Andrei Juravle

Astrophotographers in Northern Africa, Europe and the Middle East were treated to a beautiful sight in the early morning hours of July 15, 2012. A lunar occultation of Jupiter took place just before dawn, as the waning crescent Moon slid in front of the planet Jupiter. Venus was hanging around nearby, too. Several astrophotographers were able to capture the event, and some got a bonus look at Jupiter’s Galilean moons, as well! Above is a lovely image by Andrei Juravle.

More below!

Caption: The Moon, Venus and Jupiter. Credit Thierry Legault.

Astrophotographer extraordinaire Thierry Legault took this great shot of Venus, Jupiter and the Moon from Saint-Cloud, France with a Canon 5D mark II and 135mm lens. But look closely: the satellites of Jupiter are visible:

Caption: A closer look reveals Jupiter’s moons! Credit: Thierry Legault.

And as always, you should check out Thierry’s website for more incredible images.

Caption: Jupiter and the Moon hover over Dolmabahce Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Credit: Rasid Tugral.

Caption: Clouds nearly covered the view in Mombaroccio, Marche, Italy. Credit: Niki Giada.

Caption: A series of images of the Moon’s occultation of Jupiter as seen in Saida, Lebanon. Credit: astroZ1 on Flickr.

Caption: Occultation of Jupiter by the Moon as seen from Smolyan, Bulgaria. Credit: Zlatan Merakov.

More images are still coming in, and you can see more on Universe Today’s Flickr page. Thanks to everyone who submitted their gorgeous images!