orbit: 1,883,000 km from JupiterĬallisto was a nymph, beloved of Zeus and hated by Hera. It is the outermost of the Galilean moons. More Information About Callisto Jupiter IVĬallisto (“ka LIS toh”) is the eighth of Jupiter’s known satellites and the second largest. NASA has proposed a surface base on Castillo for future human exploration of the outer Solar System and the Jovian system.Castillo could support life with the presence of the ocean beneath its surface, but scientists have predicted that Europa has the conditions to harbour life.Scientists have speculated that there could be a subsurface saltwater ocean on Castillo, just like Europa and Ganymede.Castillo has a very thin atmosphere that is composed of carbon dioxide and was detected by the Galileo spacecraft.Callisto’s orbital speed is 18,400 miles per hour as it moves around Jupiter.Callisto orbital period is 16.7 Earth days and will have travelled over 7 million miles to orbit Jupiter.Callisto is tidally locked into orbit by Jupiter’s orbit, which means the same face (hemisphere) is always pointing toward Jupiter.The orbit distance of Callisto is bigger than the orbit radius of Ganymede which is 1,070,000 km. Callisto is the outermost orbiting Galilean moon of Jupiter, with its orbiting distance approximately 1,880,000 km.The surface of the moon contains water ice, carbon dioxide ice, rock particles, silicate dust and hydrocarbon compounds. Callisto is made of equal parts rock and iron and ice.The impact craters on Castillo are massive, but the largest is called Valhalla, which is 1,800 km in diameter from the centre.Old craters are obliterated when new impact craters are made. The result of this lack of geological activity is that Callisto has more craters than any other object in the Solar System - which means the moon has no way to heal itself.Callisto has no signs of geological activity (plate tectonics and volcanic activity) and is considered a dead world by scientists.Although Callisto is bigger than the dwarf planet, Pluto is not classed as a planet as it orbits Jupiter and not the Sun.Callisto is bigger than the planet Pluto but only has one third its mass.Callisto is brighter because its surface is made of a thick layer of ice which reflects sunlight more than our Moon. Callisto is 628,300,000 km from Earth, through a telescope it is brighter in our sky than our own Moon.Zeus found out and transported Callisto to the heavens where she became the constellation Ursa Major - also known as the Great Bear or Plough. They became lovers, and when Hera (Zeus’ wife) found out, she transformed Callisto into a bear. She was the daughter of King Lycaon and a follower of Artemis, who attracted Zeus. The moon was named after a nymph, Callisto. It was decided this would be best as the numerical system would become very confusing as new moons were being discovered. This numeric system was used until the mid-1800s when the satellites were given their mythological names. Galileo named each of the moons numerically as I, II, III, and IV. When Galileo first discovered Callisto and the other moons of Jupiter he named them after a powerful Italian Medici family and called them the Medicean planets.

The discovery of the Galilean moons led to the understanding that the planets in our Solar System orbit the Sun, rather than the Universe orbiting the Earth. The discovery of Callisto and the other moons of Jupiter not only had astronomical but religious implications. When was Callisto discovered?Ĭallisto was officially discovered by Galileo Galilei on the 8th January 1610, along with the other Galilean moons of Jupiter - Io, Europa and Ganymede. It is the third largest natural satilette in our Solar System and is almost the same size as the planet, Mercury. Callisto is the outermost orbiting of the Galilean moons of Jupiter. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei, along with Io, Europa and Ganymede. Callisto is a large moon which orbits Jupiter.

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