Callisto Jupiter’s Moon: Third Largest Moon Facts

Callisto is the third-largest moon in the solar system after Jupiter’s moon Ganymede and Saturn’s moon Titan. Callisto moon is Jupiter’s second-largest moon with a diameter of around 4820 km in size.

Galileo Galilei discovered Moon Callisto in 1610 with the other three Galilean moons (Ganymede, Io, and Europa). In the four Galilean Moon, Callisto is the farthest from Jupiter. Check below about them in detail:-

Callisto Moon Facts

Here you will know the most interesting facts about Jupiter’s 3rd largest moon Callisto.

Callisto distance from the Jupiter

The Callisto is the farthest in all Galilean Moon. Callisto’s distance from Jupiter is around 1.88 million kilometers. Whereas the moon Io is the closest Galilean Moon.

Low-Density Moon

It is one of the lowest density moons of Jupiter’s major moons. The average density of the Callisto is around 1.83 gm/cm3, which is very little compared to other major moons of Jupiter. This moon is slightly smaller than Planet Mercury but due to its lower density, the mass of this moon is almost 1/3rd of Mercury.

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Also, because of its lower density and mass, the gravity on this Jovian moon is very less. The average surface gravity at this moon is 1.235 m/s2 which is around 0.126 times of earth’s gravity ‘g’.

Surface facts on Callisto

This moon is made of 50% rocky material and almost 50% ice material. It contains an almost equal amount of ice and rocks.

The Callisto surface is one of the most heavily cratered in our solar system. The whole surface is covered with craters. Its surface contains different shaped impact craters, the ring structure of craters, chains of craters, associated scarps, and ridges.

Size of Callisto Moon

Jupiter moon Callisto is a quite large moon in our solar system. Callisto is the third-largest moon in the solar system. The diameter of this moon is around 4820 kilometers in size.

This moon is slightly smaller than planet Mercury (for comparison the size of Mercury is around 4880 km in diameter). For the comparison with our earth’s moon, the Callisto is quite larger. The diameter of the earth’s moon is around 3475 kilometers in size.

Callisto Temperature

Callisto is a cold world of our solar system. The average temperature on this moon is around 130K (-143 °C). Whereas the minimum recorded temperature on this moon is around just 80K (-193 °C) and the maximum temperature on the Callisto is around 165K (-108 °C).

Jupiter’s Moon Callisto Mass

One of the interesting facts about the Callisto is related to its mass. The mass of this moon is quite lower compared to other Jovian moons. It is because of its lower density. The mass of the Callisto is around 1.07 × 10²³ kilograms. The size of this moon is around 99% of the Mercury but the mass is the only ⅓ of Mercury.

Orbit of Callisto

The Callisto orbits planet Jupiter from a distance of around 1.88 million kilometers. Its orbit is the farthest from all other Galilean Moons. This moon is also tidally locked to its planets, which means it always faces the same side of the planet. Because of its tidally locked rotation, one day and one year for this moon are the same. The one day and one year (rotation and orbital motion) on this moon are around 16.7 earth days.

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The atmosphere on Jovian Moon Callisto

This moon has a very thin atmosphere, mainly composed of carbon dioxide. The atmospheric pressure on its surface is around 7.5 Picobar with a particle density of around particle density 4 × 10^8 cm−3, which is very very less compared to the earth’s atmosphere.

Life on Jupiter’s moon Callisto

A question may arise in your mind, can we live on Jupiter moon Callisto? To answer this question, this moon is not a geologically active world, it means there is no plate tectonics or volcanism. And this is why Callisto used to call a dead moon.

But according to scientists, it has subsurface oceans and these oceans may have life. These subsurface oceans may be composed of salty water. The Callisto may have habitable conditions and some extraterrestrial microbial life can exist in its salty water.

So, these were the some facts and information about Callisto Moon of Jupiter. Hope you have liked reading it, check below some interesting articles to explore more about Planets Education.