How many Galilean satellites does Jupiter have?
The Galilean moons (or Galilean satellites) are the four largest moons of Jupiter—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They were first seen by Galileo Galilei in December 1609 or January 1610 and recognized by him as satellites of Jupiter in March 1610. They were the first objects found to orbit a planet other than the Earth. The discovery of celestial bodies orbiting something other than Earth dealt a serious blow to the then-accepted Ptolemaic world system, a geocentric theory in which everything orbits around Earth. These were the only four moons of Jupiter to be known, until the discovery of the "fifth moon of Jupiter" in 1892.
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What are your thoughts on this subject?
6 Comments
Denise Currie
Just this weekend I have had my 7 year old grandson staying over and we were researching planets and moons, he loves to look and read about astronomy. I remembered the asnwer to this question from him asking about the gas giants
Brenda Bateman McDevitt
Richard G Schwartz, moons are satellites although not all satellites are moons. A satellite is any object that orbits another.
Coral Harvey
Coral Harvey, fifth moon not a gofyn moon
Coral Harvey
The explanation says a gofyn moon was discovered in 1892 so maybe it should be five.
Emm Yo
Moons are considered satellites Planets and asteroids in our solar system orbit the Sun. Moons — also known as natural satellites — orbit planets and asteroids. Richard G Schwartz,
Richard G Schwartz
When did satellites also become known as moons? Just asking.