Jupiter, the giant planet.

Jupiter, the giant planet.

Jupiter's satellites and rings

Jupiter and its satellites are famous, there are 39 known. The four Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) are the biggest of all Jupiter's moons; there are 12 smaller ones, named after other figures in the life of Zeus and 23 more recently discovered  but not yet named or confirmed. 

  • Adrastea  -  discovered by Jewitt in 1979
  • Amalthea - discovered by Barnard in 1892
  • Ananke  -  discovered by Nicholson in 1951
  • Callisto   -  discovered by Galileo in 1610
  • Carme  -  discovered by Nicholson in 1938
  • Elara  -  discovered by Perrine in 1904   
  • Europa  -  discovered by Galileo in 1610
  • Ganymede - discovered by Galileo in 1610
  • Himalia  -  discovered by Perrine in1904
  • Io  -  discovered by Galileo in 1610
  • Leda  -  discovered by Kowal in 1974
  • Lysithea  -  discovered by Nicholson in 1904
  • Metis  -  discovered by Synnott in 1979
  • Pasiphae - discovered by Mellotte in 1908
  • Sinope - discovered by Nicholson in 1914
  • Thebe - discovered by Synnott in 1979 

Jupiter has rings but faint and smaller than Saturn's and unlike them they're dark. Their composition is different from Saturn's rings composition and they seem to contain no ice and they probably have small grains of rock. The following data shows the name of the rings and the distance from Jupiter's core to the ring's inner edge and its mass.

Halo            1000000 km       ?

Main            122800 km        1e13  

Gossamer     129200 km         ?

The ring system starts at about 92,000 km from the planet's core, and extends out to 250,000 km approximately.