In fact, Ganymede is even a little larger than Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. ![]() ![]() Stay tuned!Ĭallisto and Ganymede are the largest and farthest away from Jupiter of the Galilean moons, and are both larger than our moon. Where there is liquid water there’s a chance of life as we know it. Once again, because it’s so close to Jupiter, the tidal forces are strong enough to heat up Europa’s interior, possibly allowing for liquid water below the ice. Europa is covered by a sheet of ice, and there may be an ocean of liquid water beneath it, or at least a slushy ocean. The next moon out from Jupiter, Europa, may be the best candidate for life in our solar system. This in turn produces numerous and frequent volcanic eruptions. The tidal forces are tremendous, and because of the constant stretching, heat builds up in Io’s interior to the point of melting. Since it’s only about a quarter of a million miles from the very massive Jupiter, there’s a colossal gravitational wallop on Io from the mothership. At about 2,200 miles in diameter, it is a little larger than our moon, and it’s the most geologically active body in our solar system. They’re also referred to as the Galilean moons, because the great astronomer and scientist Galileo used these moons to help prove that the sun, and not the Earth, was the center of what was then seen as the universe. Jupiter actually has more than 60 known moons and probably many more that haven’t been confirmed, but the four larger moons that we see through our backyard telescopes are certainly the best known. Consider this extra credit if you see these two shadowy events next weekend. On Saturday night, if your scope is up to it, you may see the shadow of Io on the face of Jupiter, and next Sunday, Europa’s shadow will dot the planet’s disk. In the diagram I show the positions of Jupiter’s moons during the coming week. With Jupiter’s relative proximity this month and most of this fall, you have a chance of seeing a moon shadow on Jupiter even with some of the smaller scopes. You’ll need a moderate to larger telescope to see this, however. When a moon is behind Jupiter, you won’t be able to see it, but when one is in front of the disk of the planet, you may see its shadow on Jupiter, although you. There are also many nights when you can’t see them at all because one or more moons may be behind of or in front of Jupiter, as seen from our Earthly vantage. Some nights you may see two on one side and two on the other, or three on one side and one on the other, or all four on one side. There are many, many smaller moons gravitationally enslaved by the big guy of the solar system.īecause of their continual dance they constantly change positions relative to the disk of Jupiter. Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede obediently orbit Jupiter in periods of two to 17 days. No matter the size of your telescope or even if all you have is a pair of binoculars, you’ll get a kick out of watching Jupiter’s four brightest moons. Try to look at it for at least 10 minutes at a time. As I’ve told you before, the longer you gaze at Jupiter through the eyepiece of your scope, the more detail you’ll see. Half of the time it’s turned away from Earth. The spot isn’t always available, though, because of Jupiter’s speedy 10-hour rotation. It’s called the Great Red Spot, but in reality, it has more of a pale-pinkish hue. ![]() With larger scopes you’ll see more bands and more detail, and maybe even the Great Red Spot, a giant storm raging on Jupiter. There’s actually some subtle color to them. The clouds are made up of methane, ammonia and sulfur compounds. The two darker cloud bands on either side of Jupiter’s equator are the easiest ones to see. Through a telescope, even a smaller one, it’s possible to see at least some of its darker cloud bands that appear diagonally oriented as Jupiter rises in the southeast sky. It’s basically a big ball of hydrogen and helium gas with a diameter of around 88,000 miles, more than 11 times that of our Earth. It’s not a star at all but Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. Have you seen that really bright star dazzling the southeast sky after sunset? It’s hard to miss!
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