The Occultation of Europa

First image from the newly mounted 127mm Refractor, taken from the  Jodrell Plank Observatory

"Last night the weather conditions were far from ideal for astrophotography, with high winds and clouds over Lowestoft, but as Jupiter was shining brightly and the Galilean moon Europa was about to be eclipsed and occulted by the planet, I turned the telescope towards the Jupiter and took the above image using the QHY5-11 colour planetary camera. The recently constructed permanent pier performed vey well in the high winds damping any vibrations very affectively". 

"The Great Red Spot was visible through out the evening's observations, in recent times this anticyclonic storm system within the clouds of the equatorial belt has become redder and smaller in size. This storm has existed since observations capable of seeing it commenced but are we now witnessing the beginning of the end for the Great Red Spot ?"

"An eclipse occurs when the shadow of the planet falls upon the moon. An occultation occurs when the moon moves behind the planet. An eclipse of one of the Galilean moons will occur when the planet is between the sun and the moon, consequently a Galilean moon may disappear from our line of sight whilst some distance from Jupiter's limb, it just depends upon the orbital 3 dimensional geometry and the positions of Jupiter, the Galilean moon and Earth". An occultation occurs when  Jupiter is between the Galilean moon and the Earth on a  line of sight from a given location on Earth".  Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.