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Nice little video clip. When it stops, just refresh the page to see it again.

Tidbit: Jupiter contains a majority (about 2/3) of the planetary mass in the solar system.

           Distance  Radius    Mass
Satellite  (000 km)   (km)     (kg)   Discoverer   Date
---------  --------  ------  -------  ----------  -----
Metis           128      20  9.56e16  Synnott      1979
Adrastea        129      10  1.91e16  Jewitt       1979
Amalthea        181      98  7.17e18  Barnard      1892
Thebe           222      50  7.77e17  Synnott      1979
Io              422    1815  8.94e22  Galileo      1610
Europa          671    1569  4.80e22  Galileo      1610
Ganymede       1070    2631  1.48e23  Galileo      1610
Callisto       1883    2400  1.08e23  Galileo      1610
Leda          11094       8  5.68e15  Kowal        1974
Himalia       11480      93  9.56e18  Perrine      1904
Lysithea      11720      18  7.77e16  Nicholson    1938
Elara         11737      38  7.77e17  Perrine      1905
Ananke        21200      15  3.82e16  Nicholson    1951
Carme         22600      20  9.56e16  Nicholson    1938
Pasiphae      23500      25  1.91e17  Melotte      1908
Sinope        23700      18  7.77e16  Nicholson    1914

Values for the smaller moons are approximate. Many more small moons are not listed here.

Another tidbit: the four Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) are tidally locked to Jupiter; just like the Earth's moon, they always have one side facing their parent planet. This is also the case for some of the other moons, but not all. Plus we still don't know the orbital periods for several of the smaller moons.

Jupiter's moons orbit as close as 80,000 miles (within the main ring!) in the case of Metis, and as far away as 16,500,000 miles in the case of Sinope!

1 posted on 02/27/2003 5:54:50 AM PST by petuniasevan
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To: MozartLover; Joan912; NovemberCharlie; snowfox; Dawgsquat; viligantcitizen; theDentist; ...

2 posted on 02/27/2003 5:57:57 AM PST by petuniasevan (Wonders of the Universe)
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