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  Moon phases for year 2010 by date and time and daily lunar calendar.

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  Lunar diets and dietary regimen for weight loss and body cleansing.

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  Moon in zodiacal signs and the zodiac under the lunar influence.

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  Solar activity today and real time space weather data.

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  Sky above us now and exact location of the planets and the constellations.

Moons of the planet Jupiter

The image shows the positions of visibility and the Galilean moons of Jupiter (North is up, West is right). Updated automatically when the page reloads.

Jupiter has 63 known moons. First described are the Galilean moons discovered by Galileo in 1610. Moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are ocean-type, and Io is a volcanic type.

Orbits of Io, Europa and Ganymede are in a Laplace resonance - for every four orbits of Io, Europa makes two, and Ganymede makes exactly one. This effect stretches their orbits in the form of ellipses.

Tidal forces of Jupiter on the other hand, try to make the orbits of its satellites in near circular. When you are close to Jupiter, the planet's gravity-deformed giant satellites in ellipsoid shape, allowing them to recover their spherical shape only when they are beyond it. These cycles lead to heat inside the satellites, most of Io and less of Europe. Io is the heavenly body with the most powerful volcanic activity in the solar system.

Io

Io is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter and one of the largest moons in the solar system.Diameter of 3643 km, mass 8.93 × 10²², an average orbital radius of 421 800 km and orbital period of 1.77 days.

Europa

Europa fourth largest moon of Jupiter and the smallest of the four Galilean moons. Diameter of 3122 km, mass 4.8 × 10²², an average orbital radius of 671 100 km and orbital period of 3.55 days.

Ganymede

Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, with a radius greater than that of Mercury and Pluto (but with twice as less mass). Diameter of 5262 km, mass 1.48 × 10²³, an average orbital radius of 1 070 400 km and orbital period of 7.16 days.

Callisto

Callisto is the second largest moon of Jupiter and the third in the solar system. Diameter of 4821 km, mass 1.08 × 10²³, an average orbital radius of 1 882 700 km and an orbital period of 16.69 days.

Orbits of the moons of Jupiter. Orbits of the Galilean moons are depicted in red, and the other moons of Jupiter in blue.

Differences in the size of moons and the distances between the orbits and objects of the image are incorrect and are only tentative. Their aim is to create awareness about the size of their bodies and their arrangement.

Io, Europa and Callisto are the names of the lovers of Zeus, god of Greek mythology, in the Roman mythology equivalent is god Jupiter.

Io is the daughter of river god Inachus turned into a white heifer, she was closed by Hera under guard of a monster with many eyes Argus. Later escape and gave the name of the Bosphorus, crossed it.

Europa was Phoenician aristocrat, daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor, abducted by Zeus and ported on the island of Crete, later she became queen of Crete.

Callisto was a nymph of Arcadia, transformed into a bear by the jealous wife of Zeus, the goddess Hera.

Ganymede is the name of the son of the Trojan king Tros and Callirrhoe nymph from Greek mythology who was the most beautiful among mortals.

The names of the moons were suggested by Simon Marius soon after their discovery, but are not used until the mid 20th century. Before that, the Galilean moons are called - Jupiter 1, 2, 3 and 4.