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Many TNOs are often just assumed to have Pluto's density of 2.0 g/cm 3, but it is just as likely that they have a comet-like density of only 0.5 g/cm 3. [ 4 ] For example, if a TNO is incorrectly assumed to have a mass of 3.59 × 10 20 kg based on a radius of 350 km with a density of 2 g/cm 3 but is later discovered to have a radius of only 175 ...
(They are also known to be more massive than Eris, a dwarf planet even more massive than Pluto.) These seven are Earth's Moon, the four Galilean moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto), and the largest moons of Saturn and of Neptune . Ganymede and Titan are additionally larger than the planet Mercury, and Callisto is almost as large.
Ganymede's magnetic field is probably created by convection within its core, and influenced by tidal forces from Jupiter's far greater magnetic field. [23] Ganymede has a thin oxygen atmosphere that includes O, O 2, and possibly O 3 . [17] Atomic hydrogen is a minor atmospheric constituent.
The status of Callisto, Titan, and Rhea is uncertain, as is that of the moons of Uranus, Pluto [25] and Eris. [51] The other large moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Triton) are generally believed to still be in equilibrium today.
The largest, Ganymede, is the largest moon in the Solar System and surpasses the planet Mercury in size (though not mass). Callisto is only slightly smaller than Mercury in size; the smaller ones, Io and Europa, are about the size of the Moon. The three inner moons — Io, Europa, and Ganymede — are in a 4:2:1 orbital resonance with
Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume, by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris.
Planetary-mass satellites larger than Pluto, the largest Solar dwarf planet. The three largest satellites Ganymede, Titan, and Callisto are of similar size or larger than the planet Mercury; these and four more – Io, the Moon, Europa, and Triton – are larger and more massive than the largest and most massive dwarf planets, Pluto and Eris.
The minimum separation between the two bodies overall is 17 AU, while the minimum separation between Pluto and Uranus is just 11 AU [31] (see Pluto's orbit for detailed explanation and graphs). The next largest body in a similar 2:3 resonance with Neptune, called a plutino , is the probable dwarf planet Orcus .