Jupiter's moons in December 2028
Io · Europa · Ganymede · Callisto
Jupiter's four big moons put on a show every night. They pass behind it, into its shadow and across its face, and their shadows cross its clouds. Any telescope shows it. Pick your place to see only what's visible from there.
Where the moons are
Jupiter's equator horizontal, east to the left as in binoculars. Drag through the month or tap an event to jump to it. Full screen (⤢) steps through one night minute by minute. A faded moon is behind the planet; an empty ring is a moon in its shadow. Positions ±0.1 Jupiter radii, for the picture; the times come from JPL.
Events
26 events you can see from New Delhi this month, on 18 nights
Times in IST, when the moon's centre crosses the edge, as almanacs list them. A night runs from noon to noon. Tap an event to see it in the diagram.
Night of Sat 2 Dec
- Io's shadow crosses Jupiter05:07 enters → 07:16 leaves · 2 h 09 min
- Io crosses Jupiter06:01 enters → 08:13 leaves · 2 h 12 min
Night of Sun 3 Dec
- Io behind Jupiterdisappears unseen → 05:23 reappears · 2 h 12 min
Night of Tue 5 Dec
- Europa crosses Jupiter02:57 enters → 05:30 leaves · 2 h 33 min
Night of Sat 9 Dec
- Ganymede crosses Jupiter04:42 enters → 06:59 leaves · 2 h 17 min
Night of Sun 10 Dec
- Io in Jupiter's shadow04:07 disappears → reappears unseen · 2 h 11 min
Night of Mon 11 Dec
- Io's shadow crosses Jupiter01:29 enters → 03:38 leaves · 2 h 09 min
- Io crosses Jupiter02:28 enters → 04:40 leaves · 2 h 12 min
Night of Tue 12 Dec
- Europa's shadow crosses Jupiter03:35 enters → 06:07 leaves · 2 h 33 min
- Europa crosses Jupiter05:40 enters → 08:12 leaves · 2 h 32 min
Night of Thu 14 Dec
- Europa behind Jupiterdisappears unseen → 03:18 reappears · 2 h 34 min
Night of Sat 16 Dec
- Ganymede's shadow crosses Jupiter04:30 enters → 06:54 leaves · 2 h 24 min
Night of Sun 17 Dec
- Io in Jupiter's shadow06:00 disappears → reappears unseen · 2 h 11 min
Night of Mon 18 Dec
- Io's shadow crosses Jupiter03:21 enters → 05:31 leaves · 2 h 10 min
- Io crosses Jupiter04:26 enters → 06:37 leaves · 2 h 12 min
Night of Tue 19 Dec
- Io behind Jupiterdisappears unseen → 03:46 reappears · 2 h 11 min
- Europa's shadow crosses Jupiter06:05 enters → 06:07 leaves · 2 min
- Europa's shadow crosses Jupiter06:10 enters → 08:41 leaves · 2 h 31 min
Night of Thu 21 Dec
- Europa behind Jupiterdisappears unseen → 06:00 reappears · 2 h 33 min
Night of Mon 25 Dec
- Io's shadow crosses Jupiter05:13 enters → 07:25 leaves · 2 h 11 min
- Io crosses Jupiter06:22 enters → 08:33 leaves · 2 h 11 min
Night of Tue 26 Dec
- Io behind Jupiterdisappears unseen → 05:42 reappears · 2 h 11 min
Night of Wed 27 Dec
- Io crosses Jupiter00:51 enters → 03:02 leaves · 2 h 11 min
- Ganymede behind Jupiter03:21 disappears → 05:27 reappears · 2 h 06 min
Night of Thu 28 Dec
- Europa in Jupiter's shadow03:45 disappears → reappears unseen · 2 h 33 min
Night of Sat 30 Dec
- Europa crosses Jupiter00:20 enters → 02:51 leaves · 2 h 31 min
Reading the list
Times are when the moon's centre crosses the edge of Jupiter or its shadow, as in published tables. The whole disc takes a few minutes. A start or end marked unseen happens behind Jupiter or inside its shadow. “Only what I can see” keeps events with Jupiter more than 10° up in a dark sky. Positions: JPL DE431 and jup365, with Jupiter as a flattened globe. Mutual-event brightness drops are estimates. Each event happens at the same instant everywhere on Earth.