The Moons of Jupiter: Difference between revisions

The first four to be found (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) were discovered by Galileo himself and thus are called the Galilean Moons. He [[Yes-Man|wanted to name them after his patrons]], the Medicis, but later generations of astronomers thought otherwise. The same night Galileo discovered them, a German by the name of Simon Marius -- who'd independently gotten the idea of pointing a telescope at the heavens -- also saw the same 4 moons, and named them after four of Jupiter's lovers from [[Classical Mythology]]; it's these names that are still in use today.

 

 

[[File:220px-Amalthea_Voyager-1_8903.gif|frame]]

 

Amalthea didn't get its name until the mid-20th century; before then it was simply known as "Jupiter V" (as in the Roman numeral 5). [[Arthur C. Clarke]] wrote a short story by this name, which posited an alien civilization there. (How a civilization could form under such high radiation levels, in surface gravity only 0.2% of Earth's, is another matter.)

 

[[File:io-globe-bg_8949.jpg|frame]]

 

Io was the setting for the movie ''[[Outland (film)|Outland]]''.

 

[[File:Europa2_501.jpg|frame]]

 

As shown in the page quote, Europa played a prominent role in ''[[2010: The Year We Make Contact]]''.

 

[[File:250px-Noaa_ganymede_4473.jpg|frame]]

 

It is the only moon known to produce its own magnetic field.

 

[[File:250px-Callisto_7246.jpg|frame]]

 

Its surface features are named after elements of northern myths (Valhalla Basin, the crater Bran, etc.). Surface gravity is 12.6% of Earth's.

 

Also known as irregular satellites, they're believed to be captured asteroids and are probably not permanently attached to Jupiter. They're grouped into 4 separate families (except for three ungrouped outliers) based on their orbits, and they all stay far away from the big guys in the middle.