NASA Photo Shows Mysterious Black Hole Appearing On Surface Of Jupiter

A huge, black hole on the surface of planet Jupiter was recently captured by NASA’S Juno spacecraft, and scientists had a field day figuring out what it could be.

According to a report, the photo in question was taken by NASA’s probe but enhanced digitally by scientist Kevin Gill. The photo shows the giant planet’s breathtaking marble-like surface on the upper hemisphere. It was taken during Juno’s 22nd close flyby last Sept. 11 where it approximately 4,885 miles (7,862km) above Jupiter’s cloudy surface.

Based on the photo, one can clearly see a perfect black sphere on the surface of the planet so now space enthusiasts are asking whether or not it is an actual black hole. Black holes are defined as powerful wells of gravity that can basically suck up anything including matter and light. If so, is the black hole on Jupiter something that people back on Earth should be worried about because of its proximity? Well, not really.

The black hole, it turns out, is completely harmless. In fact, the black hole is nothing more than one of Jupiter’s moon casting a shadow on the planet as it passed by directly in front of the sun.

“Jupiter’s volcanically active moon Io casts its shadow on the planet in this dramatic image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft,” NASA said.

“As with solar eclipses on the Earth, within the dark circle racing across Jupiter’s cloud tops, one would witness a full solar eclipse as Io passes in front of the Sun. Such events occur frequently on Jupiter because it is a large planet with many moons.”

NASA also shared that Jupiter, dubbed as a “Gas Giant” has a total of about 75 lunar satellites. What makes Jupiter different is that unlike other planets in our solar system, the sun does not move too far away from Jupiter’s equator, which means that the sun often crosses paths with Jupiter’s many moons.

Because of this, NASA explained that dark shadows that look like black holes often form on the surface of the planet and can be quite visible despite its very cloudy atmosphere. The same phenomenon happens on Earth during a solar eclipse.

“Juno’s close proximity to Jupiter provides an exceptional fish-eye view, showing a small fraction near the planet’s equator. The shadow is about 2,200 miles (3,600km) wide, approximately the same width as Io, but appears much larger relative to Jupiter. A little larger than Earth’s Moon, Io is perhaps most famous for its many active volcanoes, often caught lofting fountains of ejecta well above its thin atmosphere,” NASA said.