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A transit of Jupiter across the Sun as seen from an outer planet (Saturn, Uranus or Neptune) takes place when the planet Jupiter passes directly between the Sun and the outer planet, obscuring a small part of the Sun's disc for an observer on the outer planet. During a transit, Jupiter can be seen from the outer planet as a small black disc moving across the face of the Sun.
Jupiter's satellites could theoretically be seen at the same time, but their angular diameter would only be about 1" at Saturn and even less for more distant planets, and they would therefore be very hard to see.
The images correspond to a hypothetical observer at the center of Saturn or Uranus or Neptune. Since planets like Saturn have a large radius, there will be some effect of parallax between the planet's center and its north or south pole. However, the effect would be very small and would amount to only a couple of percent or less of the angular diameter of the Sun.
[edit] Saturn
- The Jupiter-Saturn synodic period is 19.85887 years (7253.45 days).
- The mutual inclination of the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn is 1.25°.
The most interesting case would be a transit of Jupiter from Saturn. Unfortunately, no such transit occurs between about 1625 and 2475, and according to the calculations of Albert Marth in 1886, no such transit will in fact occur for 2000 years in the past and 2000 years in the future. This is a pity, since Jupiter would block more of the Sun from Saturn than any other transit involving two planets in the solar system. Jupiter's angular diameter is about 40.5" and the Sun's angular diameter is about 3.2' from Saturn, and Jupiter would therefore block 4.4% of the Sun's light.
[edit] Uranus
- The Jupiter-Uranus synodic period is 13.81195 years (5044.81 days).
- The mutual inclination of the orbits of Jupiter and Uranus is 0.70°.
[edit] Neptune
- The Jupiter-Neptune synodic period is 12.78219 years (4668.69 days).
- The mutual inclination of the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune is 0.94°.
[edit] Table notes
- Note: Near misses are indicated with
strikeout.
- Note: the images linked to the tables do NOT take into account the finite speed of light. This can have an appreciable effect, for instance one-way light travel times are: 122 min (Jupiter-Uranus) and 165 min (Sun-Uranus) for the 1997 transit of Jupiter from Uranus.
[edit] References
- Albert Marth, Note on the Transit of the Planet Mars and its Satellites across the Sun’s disc, which will occur for the Planet Jupiter and its Satellites on April 13, 1886, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 46 (1886), 161–164. [12]
[edit] See also
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