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The Galilean moons are named after Galileo Galilei, who observed them in either December 1609 or January 1610, and recognized them as satellites of Jupiter in March 1610; [2] they remained the only known moons of Jupiter until the discovery of the fifth largest moon of Jupiter Amalthea in 1892. [3]
The Galilean moons are by far the largest and most massive objects to orbit Jupiter, with the remaining 91 known moons and the rings together comprising just 0.003% of the total orbiting mass. Of Jupiter 's moons, eight are regular satellites with prograde and nearly circular orbits that are not greatly inclined with respect to Jupiter's ...
Europa / j ʊ ˈ r oʊ p ə / ⓘ, or Jupiter II, is the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter, and the sixth-closest to the planet of all the 95 known moons of Jupiter. It is also the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System .
Io (/ ˈ aɪ. oʊ /), or Jupiter I, is the innermost and second-smallest of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter.Slightly larger than Earth's moon, Io is the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System, has the highest density of any moon, the strongest surface gravity of any moon, and the lowest amount of water by atomic ratio of any known astronomical object in the Solar System.
Weather permitting, Jupiter will not only be brighter than most other stars and planets in the evening sky, but will also be visible all night long. ... The four "Galilean moons" were named after ...
Following the discovery of moons of Saturn, a naming system based on that of Kepler and Marius was used for Jupiter's moons. [27] Ganymede is the only Galilean moon of Jupiter named after a male figure—like Io, Europa, and Callisto, he was a lover of Zeus. In English, the Galilean satellites Io, Europa and Callisto have the Latin spellings of ...
Io, the third-largest moon of Jupiter, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. ... Because it is the closest Galilean moon to Jupiter and passes through the planet’s magnetic ...
It is the outermost of the four large Galilean moons of Jupiter, [3] which were discovered in 1610 with one of the first telescopes, and is today visible from Earth with common binoculars. The surface of Callisto is the oldest and most heavily cratered in the Solar System. [11] Its surface is completely covered with impact craters. [12]