A quick overview of all of Jupiter’s moons
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, boasts 95 moons, making it the second most populated planet by moon count (Saturn has the most). A huge gas giant, Jupiter is orbited by numerous moons; the four largest of these are known as the Galilean moons, discovered by Galileo Galilei using a telescope in 1610. The four moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto – are arranged in order of their distance from Jupiter. These moons proved that not all celestial bodies orbit the Earth, an important discovery because astronomers had previously believed that the Earth was the center of the universe.
The Juno spacecraft has discovered salts, organic compounds and water vapor on the surface and in the atmosphere of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered salts and organic compounds on the surface of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon. The discovery was made during a June 2021 flyby, during which Juno studied Ganymede with its Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, an instrument designed to study the chemistry and interactions in the atmospheres of Jupiter and its moons. Ganymede, one of these moons, is the largest moon in the solar system — at 5,268 kilometers (3,200 miles) wide, larger than the planet Mercury — and has a vast ocean beneath its icy crust.