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A montage of Jupiter and its four largest moons (distance and sizes not to scale) There are 95 moons of Jupiter with confirmed orbits as of 5 February 2024. [1] [note 1] This number does not include a number of meter-sized moonlets thought to be shed from the inner moons, nor hundreds of possible kilometer-sized outer irregular moons that were only briefly captured by telescopes. [4]
Io (Jupiter I) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter; with a diameter of 3642 kilometers, it is the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System, and is only marginally larger than Earth's moon. It was named after Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of the lovers of Zeus. It was referred to as "Jupiter I", or "The first satellite ...
The sizes and masses of many of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are fairly well known due to numerous observations and interactions of the Galileo and Cassini orbiters; however, many of the moons with a radius less than ~100 km, such as Jupiter's Himalia, have far less certain masses. [5]
People around the world will have a chance this weekend to catch what could be the year’s most stunning view of the largest planet in our solar system. Jupiter ... The four "Galilean moons" were ...
Jupiter and its four largest moons as photographed by NASA's Juno spacecraft on its approach to the planet. A similar sight can be seen from Earth with the help of a telescope. (NASA/JPL)
The four largest moons of Jupiter all orbit within the magnetosphere, which protects them from solar wind. [70]: 69 The volcanoes on the moon Io emit large amounts of sulfur dioxide, forming a gas torus along its orbit. The gas is ionized in Jupiter's magnetosphere, producing sulfur and oxygen ions.
Ganymede and Europa are two of the four largest moons orbiting Jupiter, known as the Galilean moons. Europa is similar in size to Earth’s Moon, while Ganymede is the largest moon in the whole ...
The earliest published discovery of a moon other than Earth's was by Galileo Galilei, who discovered the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610. Over the following three centuries, only a few more moons were discovered.