Look at these images of Europa and Ganymede taken with...

Look at these images of Europa and Ganymede taken with ESO's VLT in Chile! The moons are tiny as seen from Earth, about the size of a 1 Euro coin 3-5 km away. Using adaptive optics we can measure and correct atmospheric turbulence, yielding sharp images like these – the smallest details are only ~150 km! I used to operate this instrument back when I worked at the VLT, and I loved observing Solar System objects like these.

More info: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2241a/

Credit: ESO/King & Fletcher

This image shows a black and white image of Jupiter. In front of the giant planet in a plane are images of its icy moons Europa and Ganymede. These images show the moons in beige, like sand, and blue, with darker and brighter regions. Below the planet there are larger images of the moons, with timestamps that indicate these images being captured on different days, revealing different sides of the moons.

Like 10 Oct 2022 at 12:58 | Open on mastodon.online