Facts about Callisto

  1. It’s the most heavily cratered body in the solar system. 
  2. 25%-50% of the moon is water ice. 
  3. It is 4.5 billion years old. 
  4. Callisto has a slight magnetic field. 
  5. It has low levels of radiation. 
  6. Callisto’s considered a dead moon. 
  7. Jupiter’s 8th moon by distance. 
  8. Callisto may have been formed by a process called accretion.  
  9. It has a dark surface on the moon, due to the distance from the sun.
  10. It takes 16.7 days for Callisto to orbit Jupiter. 
  11. Callisto is the third largest moon in our solar system. 
  12. However, Callisto is also the second largest moon orbiting Jupiter (after Ganymede). 

    One of the many craters on Callisto!

  13. Callisto has a  107,593,737,963,819,000,000,000 kg mass. 
  14. Callisto is 2,985 miles (4,800 km) in diameter .
  15. Callisto’s almost the same size as Mercury.  
  16. It is considered the darkest moon of the Galileans. 
  17. Yet, Callisto is still brighter than Earth’s moon. 
  18. Callisto was discovered on January 7, 1610. 
  19. It was the first moon discovered orbiting another planet. 
  20. Callisto is the second largest moon of Jupiter. 
  21. Callisto  was discovered by Galileo. 
  22. It has an extremely thin atmosphere. 
  23. Callisto also has impact basins (the largest is Valhalla). 
  24. It may or may not have a salty ocean beneath the crust. 
  25. Callisto is considered the most heavily cratered moon in our solar system. 
  26. There’s always very little geographical activity  on Callisto. 
  27. Callisto’s craters were discovered in 1970’s. 
  28. Callisto could possibly be habitable, and used to explore the Jupiter junction. 
  29. It’s tidally locked to Jupiter. 
  30. Callisto was originally named the number IV.
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