Chelsea Wilcox
Activity 6
AST 191
The Galilean moons orbit Jupiter and are some of the most complex moon’s in the solar system.
In this activity we explored whether or not the 4 large ones have any ‘geological’ activity. The moons
include Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
Io I believe to be a 1 on the rating scale; first and foremost because it has very active volcanoes
and Lava flowing on the surface. It is not covered in craters like the other 3 moons. Europa I believe to
be a 3, mostly because it does have an immense amount of craters but not like that seen on the moon
Callisto or Ganymede. Ganymede I believe to be geologically dead for sometime, a four on the ranking
scale, as well as Callisto as a 4. This is because both of these moons are covered in craters, the more
craters a moon/planet has the less geological activity it has, as seen as result from activity 5. It seems as
if the less time it takes to orbit, as well as the density and distance from Jupiter all play a part in it the
geological activity of the moons.
Moon
Distance
to Jupiter
(km)
Io
Europa
Ganymede
Callisto
422,000
671,000
1,070,000
1,883,000
Radius
(km)
1,815
1,569
2,631
2,400
Mass
(Earth
Mass)
0.0145
0.008
0.0242
0.0176
Density
Orbital
(gm/cm3) Period
(days)
3.53
3.03
1.93
1.79
1.77
3.55
7.16
16.69
Geologic
rating
scale
1
3
4
4
In this activity we explored the geological activity on the 4 large Galilean moons of Jupiter. I
have reached the conclusion that the closer the moons are to Jupiter, the less time it takes to orbit, and
the denser the moon is, the more geological activity it will have. Io has the most geological activity, and
Ganymede and Callisto is dead.