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[Centaur]

During the evening of 2013 MAR 19, the Sun, Europa, Jupiter, Io & Ganymede will all be in a straight line in 3-dimensional space. Five celestial bodies! As viewed from Earth between 19:57 and 21:07 CDT, Europa’s shadow will be transiting Jupiter’s disk, while Io and Ganymede are eclipsed by Jupiter’s shadow after emerging from occultations behind Jupiter.

My timetable and preview graphics for the event can be seen at www.CurtRenz.com/jupiter

Photos and descriptions of the event would be welcome additions to this thread.

[Centaur]

Interestingly, the occultation of Ganymede by Jupiter will completely end at 17:03 CDT. Then for two and a half hours Ganymede will be shining brightly until it begins entering eclipse in Jupiter’s shadow at 19:32 CDT. Io, however, will emerge from occultation at 19:56 CDT, while already eclipsed.

[Paulie pchris00]

That's one of those tricks that can be used to identify each moon, at least when I've had a lot of recent observing time, which hasn't been the case this winter.

[Paulie pchris00]

Mar 19, 2013 16:01:34 GMT -6 Centaur said:

Interestingly, the occultation of Ganymede by Jupiter will completely end at 17:03 CDT. Then for two and a half hours Ganymede will be shining brightly until it begins entering eclipse in Jupiter’s shadow at 19:32 CDT. Io, however, will emerge from occultation at 19:56 CDT, while already eclipsed.

I can confirm that Ganymede was visible around 7PM CDST. Around 7:40 I noticed that it was dimming, and was completely eclipsed by 7:44. I apologize for not getting better timings.

Also, I did not notice Europa's shadow, but as I started observing the Jovian system Tuesday night, Europa's total transit must have just ended. I noticed it off the limb right away, but a novice observer would likely not have seen it at that point. Again, I did not get timings.