Jupiter Moons

Tonight, four moons of Jupiter can be seen from the night sky. These are referred to as the Galilean moons where they are individually named as Lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.They were discovered by Galileo Galilee and are named after him in his honor.  According to the article by Matt Williams, Jupiter holds the most moons out of all the solar planets in our solar system. The moons of Jupiter are rather interesting because they are so vastly different from one another that they are placed into categories to distinguish them (Williams). By focusing on the four big moons of Jupiter, Lo is considered to be the most volcanic in the solar system. This is because the atmosphere of Lo is very thin and mainly composed of sulfur dioxide. Europa is considered to be the smallest of the Galilean moons and is slightly smaller than the Earth's moon. On the surface of Europa, there is ice that is cracked and many researchers question what could be underneath it (Casani). Compared to Europa, Ganymede is the biggest in the solar system. The characteristics of Ganymede is bright and smooth on one side, and dark and heavily cratered on the other side. It is overall an icy moon and is created through a liquid iron core (Casani).  Callisto is an interesting moon compared to the other three. This moon travels around Jupiter at its own pace and lacks an iron core. It also has a thin atmosphere with carbon dioxide surrounding it (Williams). 

The Four Moons of Jupiter

Picture by Harvard Microobservatory

Citation

Leutwyler, Kristin. "The Moons of Jupiter." New York: Nevraumont Publishing Company, 2003.                      Print.

Williams, Matt. "What Are the Moons of Jupiter?" Universe Today. Web. Sept. 14, 2015. Retrieved 

              from http://www.universetoday.com/52061/moons-of-jupiter/