Transcript The 4 Galilean Satelites of Jupiter!!!!

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Marcus Shinbo
Astronomy Pd. 3
21, January, 2011
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* The Galilean satellites are the 4
major moons of Jupiter, Io,
Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
In this picture, Io, and Io’s
surface, are shown on the leftmost end, then Europa, and its
surface, then Ganymede, then
Callisto. Of Jupiter’s 60 moons,
these four are the biggest.
* These moons were discovered by
Galileo Galilei in 1610. Their
discovery by Galileo was a key
piece of evidence that the Earth
was not the center of the
Universe. Although Galileo initially
thought they were stars, his
continued observations over a
couple of weeks showed that the
objects remained near Jupiter. He
was finally able to show that they
were in orbit around Jupiter, thus
proving that not all objects in the
heavens orbited Earth.
*
*Jupiter's moon Io is one of the most exotic places in
the solar system. It is the most volcanic body
known, with lava flows, lava lakes, and giant
calderas covering its sulfurous landscape. It has
billowing volcanic geysers spewing sulfurous plumes
to over 500 kilometers high. Its mountains are much
taller than those on Earth, reaching heights of 16
kilometers (52,000 feet).
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* Ganymede [GAN-ee-meed] is the largest moon of Jupiter and is the
largest in our solar system with a diameter of 5,262 km (3,280
miles). If Ganymede orbited the Sun instead of Jupiter it could be
classified as a planet. Like Callisto, Ganymede is most likely
composed of a rocky core with a water/ice mantle and a crust of
rock and ice. Its low density of 1.94 gm/cm3, indicates that the
core takes up about 50% of the satellite's diameter. Ganymede's
mantle is most likely composed of ice and silicates, and its crust is
probably a thick layer of water ice.
* Ganymede has no known atmosphere, but recently the Hubble
Space Telescope detected ozone at its surface. The amount of
ozone is small as compared to Earth. It is produced as charged
particles trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field rain down onto the
surface of Ganymede. As the charged particles penetrate the icy
surface, particles of water are disrupted leading to ozone
production. This chemical process hints that Ganymede probably
has a thin tenuous oxygen atmosphere like that detected on Europa.
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* Europa [yur-ROH-pah] is a unique moon of Jupiter
that has fascinated scientists for hundreds of years.
Its surface is among the brightest in the solar
system, a consequence of sunlight reflecting off a
relatively young icy crust. Its face is also among the
smoothest, lacking the heavily cratered appearance
characteristic of Callisto and Ganymede. Lines and
cracks wrap the exterior as if a child had scribbled
around it. Europa may be internally active, and its
crust may have, or had in the past, liquid water
which can harbor life.
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* Callisto [kah-LISS-toe] is the second largest moon of Jupiter,
the third largest in the solar system, and is about the same
size as Mercury. It orbits just beyond Jupiter's main radiation
belt. Callisto is the most heavily cratered satellite in the solar
system. Its crust is very ancient and dates back 4 billion
years, just shortly after the solar system was formed.
* Callisto lacks any large mountains. This is probably due to the
icy nature of its surface. Impact craters and associated
concentric rings are about the only features to be found on
Callisto. The largest craters have been erased by the flow of
the icy crust over geologic time. Two enormous concentric
ring, impact basins are found on Callisto. The largest impact
basin is Valhalla. It has a bright central region that is 600
kilometers in diameter, and its rings extend to 3000
kilometers in diameter. The second impact basin is Asgard. It
measures about 1600 kilometers in diameter.
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* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ1KaoMSl
T8
* 1:12 to the end
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*The 4 Galilean moons of Jupiter are Io,
Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa.
*They were discovered by Galileo Galilei
in 1610.
*This proved the theory that the planets
did not revolve around Earth.
*The largest moon is Ganymede and the
most volcanic moon is Io.
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* "Galilean Satellites."Mac OS X Server.Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
<http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec13.ht
ml>.
* "Glossary Definition: Galilean Satellites." Windows to the
Universe.Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
<http://www.windows2universe.org/glossary/galilean_sa
tellites.html>.
* "Planets: Jupiter: Moons." Solar System Exploration.Web.
18 Jan. 2011.
<http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Displa
y=Moons&Object=Jupiter>.
* "Science | Satellites of Jupiter."The Galileo Project.Web.
18 Jan. 2011.
<http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/observations/jupiter_satelli
tes.html>.
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