Dark Sky News
February 2026
Next meeting: Feb. 26 @7:30pm
Jupiter is up all night and still pretty large after its opposition. Here are some moon transit events!
Europa Picture Time
Sunday, February 1, 2026
19:38 EST, Europa begins transit of Jupiter.
20:46 EST, Europa’s shadow begins to cross Jupiter.
22:26 EST, Europa ends transit of Jupiter.
23:36 EST, Europa’s shadow leaves Jupiter’s disk.
Io Picture Time
Friday, February 13, 2026
19:22 EST, Io’s shadow begins to cross Jupiter.
20:50 EST, Io ends transit of Jupiter.
21:40 EST, Io’s shadow leaves Jupiter’s disk.
Ganymede Picture Time
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
20:40 EST, Ganymede ends transit of Jupiter.
20:54 EST, Ganymede’s shadow begins to cross Jupiter.
00:22 EST, Ganymede’s shadow leaves Jupiter’s disk.
01:54 EST, Io begins transit of Jupiter.
02:48 EST, Io’s shadow begins to cross Jupiter.
04:10 EST, Io ends transit of Jupiter.
05:06 EST, Io’s shadow leaves Jupiter’s disk.
Callisto Eclipse
Friday, February 20, 2026
20:22 EST, Io begins transit of Jupiter.
21:18 EST, Io’s shadow begins to cross Jupiter.
21:30 EST, Callisto enters eclipse by Jupiter’s shadow.
22:38 EST, Io ends transit of Jupiter.
23:36 EST, Io’s shadow leaves Jupiter’s disk.
01:22 EST, Callisto exits eclipse by Jupiter’s shadow.
Ganymede Picture Time
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
20:52 EST, Ganymede begins transit of Jupiter.
00:12 EST, Ganymede ends transit of Jupiter.
00:54 EST, Ganymede’s shadow begins to cross Jupiter.
03:42 EST, Io begins transit of Jupiter.
04:22 EST, Ganymede’s shadow leaves Jupiter’s disk.Jupiter
This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Snow Moon because the heaviest snows usually fell during this time of the year (no kidding!)
Since the Moon is much closer to the Earth than other celestial objects, its exact position in the sky differs depending on your exact location on Earth due to its large parallax. The position of the Moon as seen from two points on opposite sides of the Earth varies by up to two degrees, or four times the diameter of the full moon. Luckily, from our location, we’ll be able to see the 95% full Moon occult Regulus – the star will disappear behind the illuminated side of the Moon around 20:51 EST and reappear from behind the unilluminated side of the Moon about an hour later at around 21:59 EST. See its world wide visibility here.
If you haven’t seen the Chinese space station Tiangong, now’s a good time! It will be almost as bright as Jupiter passing right by Jupiter! It will rise due west at 18:29 EST and head due east practically kissing Jupiter on its way, disappearing into the shadow of the Earth at 18:33 EST. Tiangong will then repeat this two days later, starting at 18:04EST and ending at 18:10EST
One of our SAS Challenges of the Month: Check out the Io moon transit / Callisto eclipse event above! This is a really cool opportunity to see both a moon transit event and a disappearing act for Callisto. Watch Callisto move into and then out of the shadow of Jupiter and triangulate the position of Earth relative to Jupiter and the Sun based on the shadow angle!
