A captured video shows Jupiter appearing to melt as it disappears behind the Moon, an event classified as a lunar occultation. This phenomenon can only be seen in certain areas of the Earth.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, early Tuesday morning (3), astrophotographer Shahrin Ahmad documented this remarkable effect. In the images, the planet appears to liquefy as it is obscured by the lunar limb.
Ahmad shared his capture with the platform Spaceweather.com after an intense fog covering Southeast Asia dissipated. In the video, as the Moon moves over the planet, its outline seems to stretch, creating a luminous structure resembling a drop sliding down the lunar surface.
It is important to note that despite the unusual appearance, Jupiter suffered no physical alteration. The effect is purely optical and is related to the limitations of the instruments used to observe celestial bodies.
This recording made by Ahmad is a manifestation of the so-called black drop effect, which is better known for occurring during planetary transits, when a planet passes between the Earth and the Sun.
Marcelo Zurita, president of the Paraíba Astronomy Association (APA) and member of the Brazilian Astronomical Society (SAB), explained that no optical equipment can produce images with perfectly sharp focus. Differences in focal point between frequencies such as infrared and ultraviolet can generate very weak secondary images that are usually unnoticed.
He detailed that 'this creates a kind of 'ghost' that we practically don't see in the image, which is very weak, very faint. But since this effect occurs on both bodies, in this case the Moon and Jupiter, when the 'ghosts' of each approach and overlap, this ends up creating a slightly clearer bubble that widens the objects close to each other.'
The effect gained notoriety during the transits of Venus in the 18th century. At that time, observers attributed the deformation to the planet's dense atmosphere. However, these observations also had a crucial scientific purpose: calculating the distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Zurita emphasized that the idea originated from astronomer Edmund Halley, who suggested using parallax for this measurement. This motivated global expeditions to track Venus's passage. However, the distortion caused by the black drop effect complicated the determination of the exact moments of Venus's entry and exit from the solar disk.
'Halley proposed observing the transit of Venus as a way to measure the distance between the Earth and the Sun by parallax. And then expeditions were organized in different parts of the world to observe this phenomenon, and when it happened, it was not possible to determine the exact moments of Venus's entry and exit from the solar disk due to this effect known as the black drop,' the specialist clarified.
The theory that Venus's atmosphere caused the deformation was weakened in 1999 when NASA's TRACE probe observed the same effect during Mercury's transit across the Sun. Since Mercury has almost no atmosphere, it was proven that this characteristic was not essential for the occurrence of the phenomenon.
A lunar occultation occurs when the Moon passes in front of another celestial body, temporarily covering it for those observing from Earth. Due to the dependence on the apparent position of the celestial bodies relative to the observation location, the event cannot be followed across the entire planet.
The visibility range for this week's Jupiter lunar occultation covered island nations such as Maldives, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, and Mauritius, as well as Réunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. In parts of South and Southeast Asia and Oceania, the passage occurred during the day, which complicated observation due to the brightness of the sky.
In Brazil, the celestial bodies did not overlap, so there was no occultation. However, the Moon and Jupiter appeared very close, in a configuration called astronomical conjunction.
