Members
Simulations suggest there may have been several generations of Galilean satellites in Jupiter's early history. Each generation of moons to have formed would have spiraled into Jupiter and been destroyed, due to drag from Jupiter's proto-lunar disk, with new moons forming from the remaining debris. By the time the present generation formed, the debris had thinned out to the point that it no longer greatly interfered with the moons' orbits. Io is anhydrous and likely has an interior of rock and metal. Europa is thought to contain 8% ice and water by mass with the remainder rock. These moons are, in increasing order of distance from Jupiter:
Name |
Image | Model of Interior I E G C |
Diameter (km) |
Mass (kg) |
Density (g/cm³) |
Inclination (°) |
|||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Io Jupiter I |
3660.0 ×3637.4 ×3630.6 |
0893 !8.93×1022 | 3.528 | 421,800 | 1.769 (1) |
0.050 | 0.0041 | ||
Europa Jupiter II |
3121.6 | 0480 !4.8×1022 | 3.014 | 671,100 | 3.551 (2) |
0.471 | 0.0094 | ||
Ganymede Jupiter III |
5262.4 | 1480 !1.48×1023 | 1.942 | 1,070,400 | 7.155 (4) |
0.204 | 0.0011 | ||
Callisto Jupiter IV |
4820.6 | 1080 !1.08×1023 | 1.834 | 1,882,700 | 16.69 (9.4) |
0.205 | 0.0074 |
Read more about this topic: Galilean Moons
Famous quotes containing the word members:
“Religion is the centre which unites, and the cement which connects the several parts of members of the political body.”
—George Berkeley (16851753)
“Sometimes the best way to keep peace in the family is to keep the members of the family apart for awhile.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (18821945)
“This will not be disloyalty but will show that as members of a party they are loyal first to the fine things for which the party stands and when it rejects those things or forgets the legitimate objects for which parties exist, then as a party it cannot command the honest loyalty of its members.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (18841962)