Discover Planet Jupiter

Planet Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System.

Friday, April 14, 2006

Galilean Moons

Galilean moons are the four largest moons (that we currently know of) that orbit Jupiter. They were discovered by Galileo Galilei. These moons are even visible from a small telescope or binoculars.

Io, Europa, and Ganymede, the largest moons in the solar system, form a pattern known as a Laplace resonance; for every four orbits that Io makes around Jupiter, Europa makes exactly two orbits and Ganymede makes exactly one. This resonance causes the gravitational effects of the three moons to distort their orbits into elliptical shapes, since each moon receives an extra tug from its neighbors at the same point in every orbit it makes. The fourth Galilean moon is Callisto.

The tidal force from Jupiter, on the other hand, works to circularize their orbits. This constant tug of war causes regular flexing of the three moons' shapes, Jupiter's gravity stretches the moons more strongly during the portion of their orbits that are closest to it and allowing them to spring back to more spherical shapes when they're farther away. This flexing causes tidal heating of the three moons' cores. This is seen most dramatically in Io's extraordinary volcanic activity, and to a somewhat less dramatic extent in the geologically young surface of Europa indicating recent resurfacing.