This computer animation shows what Jupiter would look like if viewed from above its moon Io as the satellite revolves around the gas giant. Visible—in addition to Jupiter’s rotation, its strikingly coloured cloud bands, and the Great Red Spot—are the planet’s ring system, which appears edge on as a thin line, and its innermost satellites, the tiny bright points orbiting the planet. As Io moves into Jupiter’s nightside, sunlight scattered forward by the ring material makes the rings increasingly visible. Finally the distant Sun appears and becomes eclipsed by Jupiter.
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