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Callisto (/ k ə ˈ l ɪ s t oʊ / kə-LIST-oh), or Jupiter IV, is the second-largest moon of Jupiter, after Ganymede.In the Solar System it is the third-largest moon after Ganymede and Saturn's largest moon Titan, and nearly as large as the smallest planet Mercury.
Callisto is surrounded by an extremely thin atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide [49] and probably molecular oxygen. [50] Investigation revealed that Callisto may possibly have a subsurface ocean of liquid water at depths less than 300 kilometres. [51] The likely presence of an ocean within Callisto indicates that it can or could harbour life.
All together, Jupiter's moons form a satellite system called the Jovian system. The most massive of the moons are the four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, which were independently discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei and Simon Marius and were the first objects found to orbit a body that was neither Earth nor the Sun.
Io (1.9 nbar) and Callisto (26 pbar) have very thin atmospheres, but still enough to have collisions between atmospheric molecules. Other planetary-mass moons only have exospheres at most. [ 26 ] Exospheres have been detected around Earth's Moon, Europa, Ganymede, [ 26 ] Enceladus, [ 27 ] Dione, [ 28 ] and Rhea. [ 29 ]
The size of solid bodies does not include an object's atmosphere. For example, Titan looks bigger than Ganymede, but its solid body is smaller. For the giant planets, the "radius" is defined as the distance from the center at which the atmosphere reaches 1 bar of atmospheric pressure. [11]
The goals of the planned Tianwen-4 Jupiter mission include: study of the interaction between magnetic fields and plasma present in the Jovian system, examination of the compositional variations in the Jovian atmosphere, exploration of the internal structures and surface characteristics of either Ganymede or Callisto, as well as investigation of the space environment surrounding the ...
It is projected that parameters for surface habitats will be comparable to those of terrestrial planets like Earth and Mars, namely stellar properties, orbit, planetary mass, atmosphere and geology. Of the natural satellites in the Solar System's habitable zone – the Moon , two Martian satellites (though some estimates put those outside it ...
The simulation showed that the density of Callisto's atmosphere can be explained by the trapping of hydrogen by the heavier gases, carbon dioxide and oxygen. The model shows how kinetic interactions between molecules affect the atmosphere, although it has limitations in terms of variables considered.