Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System
Menu
Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System

Callisto, a moon of Jupiter




Callisto

The final of the four large Galilean moons is Callisto. It is the third largest moon in the Solar System, about 4890 kilometres wide, just over the width of Mercury (by only 10 kilometres!) but more than twice the size of Pluto! It is a more familiar-looking moon than the three other large moons of Jupiter, resembling Earth's moon, and has a surface more cratered than any other moon in the Solar System.



It is believed that Callisto has a large rocky core and is made up mainly of water ice and rock. The bright spots on its surface are rings around craters where water has spread and frozen, reflecting brightly in the sunlight. The moon is unlikely to have changed for millions of years, with impact craters on the surface remaining from the formation of the Solar System four billion years ago!






Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System
Twitter logo Facebook logo Email icon
© 2020 SULTANA BARBECUE LIMITED

Registered in England and Wales, company number 11922238
71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ
SB logo