Satellites of Jupiter - interesting facts

The huge orange-red Jupiter is the largest gaseous planet in the solar system. The ancient Romans gave it a name quite appropriate: Jupiter (the ancient Greeks - Zeus) was the supreme god on Olympus. He has a huge number of large and small satellites, which named respectively the names of the numerous beloved, wives and descendants of the above-mentioned god.

The most significant satellites of Jupiter are Ganymede, Europe, Io and Callisto. They are also called Galilean satellites, since Galileo Galilei was the first to notice them in the sky in the winter of 1610. To do this, he needed a telescope that increases the size by 32 times.

Like Jupiter himself, his satellites are very bright, and their orbits are far apart, so they are easy to see even in modern field binoculars.

Eight interplanetary stations consistently explored the planet and its satellites. On the basis of these studies, we can confidently say that all the satellites of Jupiter are very unusual and each of them has its own "zest".

Io is the most colorful companion. This is explained by the fact that it has a lot of active volcanoes that spout black, red, yellow, brown, orange lava. On any other celestial bodies entering the solar system, in addition to the Earth, there are no active volcanoes. Therefore, Io is the title of the most volcanically active planet. And in the ionosphere of this satellite, under the influence of the magnetic field of Jupiter, auroras of high intensity continuously flare up.

Another companion of Jupiter, Europe is the lightest and most smooth solid celestial body in the solar system. The elevations on its surface do not exceed one meter in height. Craters from asteroids are also shallow and almost invisible. The explanation of this phenomenon is that the entire planet is covered with a thick layer of ice, under which scientists assume the presence of a huge salt ocean. When cracks and faults form on the surface of Europe, water enters there and immediately freezes, filling irregularities. Moreover, in the waters of the "subglacial" ocean there can be a primitive life. True, everything is complicated by the very high level of radiation on the planet. But scientists expect to solve all scientific and technical problems and with the help of probes to carefully study this enigmatic companion of Jupiter.

The largest of all satellites is Ganymede. By its size, it surpasses Mercury, and could well be an independent planet of the solar system, if it did not revolve around Jupiter, but around the Sun. Ganymede is covered with a layer of ice, and its thickness is much larger than in Europe. The entire surface of the satellite is striated by smooth furrows, the width of which reaches 15 km, and the length is 30 km. Another interesting feature of Ganymede is the presence of active "volcanoes", which erupt an injected-saline solution, not lava. From atmospheric phenomena, astronomers have found the fall of frost, the composition of which has not been studied.

Callisto is the most distant and oldest satellite of Jupiter. It also consists mainly of ice, water and minerals, and its entire surface is covered with craters of various diameters. There is no magnetic field in this celestial body , and hence there is no solid metallic core.

In addition to the four large ones, there are also smaller satellites of Jupiter - about sixty. These are stone blocks, and asteroids removed from Jupiter, which fell into its gravitational field, such as Karma and Sinope. There are also so-called internal satellites of Jupiter, orbits of which pass inside Io's orbit. On the surface of these satellites, the largest of which are called Amalthea and Adrastea, Io volcanic emissions settle.