What would Jupiter look like from Europa’s surface?

Imagine standing on the icy crust of Europa, one of Jupiter’s largest moons. The frozen landscape stretches out before you, cold and silent. But when you look up, the view is anything but subtle. Dominating the sky is Jupiter, a massive planet looming larger than anything you’ve ever seen in Earth’s sky.

Welcome to our virtual reality game Europa Prime, and one of the first things we had to figure out, was what would the gas giant look like?

How Big Would Jupiter Look?

From Earth, the Moon appears about about the size of a dime held at arm’s length. It's beautiful, but relatively small in the grand scale of things.

• in science terms, 0.5 degrees across in the sky!

Now, picture this: Jupiter as seen from Europa spans about 12 degrees in the sky. That’s 24 times wider than the full Moon appears from Earth, and nearly 600 times more area.

An Easy Visualization:

If the Moon is like a dime at arm’s length, then Jupiter from Europa would appear more like a basketball held at the same distance.

Just imagine the gas giant hanging in the dark sky, with its swirling cloud bands, its Great Red Spot clearly visible, and perhaps even its thin ring system faintly glowing.

A view from our Virtual Reality game Europa Prime, depicting the approximate size of Jupiter in the sky. Note how Jupiter is on it's side... why is that?

Why Size Matters

Besides being a fun thought experiment, it’s a powerful way to teach angular size, orbital dynamics, and just how different our Solar System can feel depending on your vantage point.

This isn’t science fiction, it’s what future explorers may actually see. And thanks to modern visualizations and simple comparisons, we don’t have to wait to be awestruck.

Want to know the Math behind this?

Click HERE to read our blog that takes a deeper approach.