APOD: 2026 October 12 – Jupiter and the Moons

Earth’s Moon recently passed directly in front of Jupiter, creating a rare multi-moon photograph that captures five moons at once. According to the Astronomy Picture of the Day feature, photographer Chirag Upreti took the series of exposures from Westchester, New York. The image shows the sunlit crescent of Earth's Moon overexposed on the lower left, while its night side glows faintly from Earthshine.

Lined up vertically above Earth's Moon are Jupiter’s four bright Galilean satellites: Ganymede, Io, Callisto, and Europa. The picture highlights the scale of these worlds. Callisto, Ganymede, and Io are larger than Earth’s Moon, and Europa is only slightly smaller. NASA notes that its robotic spacecraft Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter and has made close passes near three of those icy moons.

The featured photograph provides a unique visual alignment of our solar system, bringing Earth's satellite and Jupiter's largest moons into a single frame.