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A montage of Jupiter and its four largest moons (distance and sizes not to scale) There are 95 moons of Jupiter with confirmed orbits as of 5 February 2024. [1] [note 1] This number does not include a number of meter-sized moonlets thought to be shed from the inner moons, nor hundreds of possible kilometer-sized outer irregular moons that were only briefly captured by telescopes. [4]
Its diameter is eleven times that of Earth, and a tenth that of the Sun. Jupiter orbits the Sun at a distance of 5.20 AU (778.5 Gm), with an orbital period of 11.86 years. It is the third brightest natural object in the Earth's night sky, after the Moon and Venus, and has been observed since prehistoric times.
From top to bottom: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto. The Galilean moons (/ ˌɡælɪˈleɪ.ən /), [1] or Galilean satellites, are the four largest moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They are the most readily visible Solar System objects after Saturn, the dimmest of the classical planets; though their closeness to bright ...
Impact events on Jupiter. Scar (dark area near Jupiter's limb) caused by a fragment of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. In modern times, numerous impact events on Jupiter have been observed, the most significant of which was the collision of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in 1994. Jupiter is the most massive planet in the Solar System and thus has a vast ...
Marking the latest foray into space exploration, NASA is preparing to launch its first mission to explore Jupiter's moon, Europa, to determine if it harbors conditions suitable to support life.
Solar eclipses on Jupiter. A picture of Jupiter and its moon Io taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The black spot is Io's shadow. Jupiter and the Great Red Spot (visible on the lower right), with Ganymede (immediately on the upper right) casting its shadow on Jupiter. The other moons are Europa (further right), Io (first on left), and ...
Himalia (moon) Himalia (/ hɪˈmeɪliə, hɪˈmɑːliə /), also known as Jupiter VI, is the largest irregular satellite of Jupiter. With a diameter of at least 140 km (90 mi), [5] it is the sixth largest Jovian satellite, after the four Galilean moons and Amalthea. It was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory on 3 ...
Contents. Atmosphere of Jupiter. The atmosphere of Jupiter is the largest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System. It is mostly made of molecular hydrogen and helium in roughly solar proportions; other chemical compounds are present only in small amounts and include methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and water.