Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system (larger than the planet Mercury), and is the only moon known to have its own internally generated magnetic field.
What is the name of the largest satellite?
Ganymede is the largest satellite in our solar system. It is larger than Mercury and Pluto, and three-quarters the size of Mars.
Is Ganymede bigger than Earth?
Ganymede is the largest and most massive moon in the Solar System. Its diameter of 5,268 km is 0.41 times that of Earth, 0.77 times that of Mars, 1.02 times that of Saturn’s Titan (Solar System’s second largest moon), 1.08 times Mercury’s, 1.09 times Callisto’s, 1.45 times Io’s and 1.51 times the Moon’s.
Which is the second largest satellite of solar system?
Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest in the solar system (after Ganymede of Jupiter). It is the only moon in the solar system with clouds and a dense, planet-like atmosphere.
What are the 4 largest satellites?
The Galilean moons (or Galilean satellites) /ɡælɪˈliːən/ are the four largest moons of Jupiter—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. They were first seen by Galileo Galilei in December 1609 or January 1610, and recognized by him as satellites of Jupiter in March 1610.
Is Titan bigger than Earth?
Titan is the second largest moon in our solar system. Only Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is larger, by just 2 percent. Titan is bigger than Earth’s moon, and larger than even the planet Mercury.
What does space smell like?
Astronaut Thomas Jones said it “carries a distinct odor of ozone, a faint acrid smell…a little like gunpowder, sulfurous.” Tony Antonelli, another space-walker, said space “definitely has a smell that’s different than anything else.” A gentleman named Don Pettit was a bit more verbose on the topic: “Each time, when I …
Can we breathe on Ganymede?
In 1996, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence of a thin oxygen atmosphere. However, it is too thin to support life as we know it; it is unlikely that any living organisms inhabit Ganymede.
What is the biggest thing in the universe?
The largest known structure in the Universe is called the ‘Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall’, discovered in November 2013. This object is a galactic filament, a vast group of galaxies bound together by gravity, about 10 billion light-years away.
What is Ganymede the god of?
Ganymede is the god of homosexual love and desire. He was a divine hero whose homeland was Troy and was the most beautiful of mortals.
Which planet has most natural satellites?
Saturn and Jupiter have the most moons, with dozens orbiting each of the two giant planets.
Which is the smallest satellite of the solar system?
Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet, has no moons, or at least none that can be detected to a diameter of 1.6 km (1.0 mi). For a very short time in 1974, Mercury was thought to have a moon. Venus also has no moons, though reports of a moon around Venus have circulated since the 17th century.
What planet has 9 moons?
Jupiter and the Galilean moons through a 25 cm (10 in) Meade LX200 telescope. The number of moons known for each of the four outer planets up to October 2019. Jupiter currently has 79 known satellites.
Can you see Ganymede from Earth?
From Earth, through a small telescope or strong binoculars, they look like tiny starlike pinpricks of light. … If a moon is in front of the planet, you can sometimes see the moon’s shadow on Jupiter’s cloudtops. Going from closest moon to Jupiter to the outermost, their order is Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.
Why do the Galilean moons stay in orbit?
Io is in a gravitational tug-of-war with Ganymede and Europa that drives the tides that make these moons so geologically active. … The moons all keep the same face to- wards Jupiter as they orbit, meaning that each moon turns once on its axis for every orbit around Jupiter.
Who discovered Earth’s moon?
Earth’s only natural satellite is simply called “the Moon” because people didn’t know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.