The Galilean Satellites

Abstract

NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter and improved Earth-based observing capabilities have allowed major advances in our understanding of Jupiter's moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto over the past few years. Particularly exciting findings include the evidence for internal liquid water oceans in Callisto and Europa, detection of a strong intrinsic magnetic field within Ganymede, discovery of high-temperature silicate volcanism on Io, discovery of tenuous oxygen atmospheres at Europa and Ganymede and a tenuous carbon dioxide atmosphere at Callisto, and detection of condensed oxygen on Ganymede. Modeling of landforms seen at resolutions up to 100 times as high as those of Voyager supports the suggestion that tidal heating has played an important role for Io and Europa.