ISP 205, Section 3, Fall 1999, Prof. Stein
Surface of the Galilean Moons Activity 

                                      Name: __________________________


                                      Student Number: ________________

The Jupiter and Galilean Moons to Scale

1. Sketch the orbits of Jupiter's four largest satellites approximately to scale, using the following table. All of the units have been scaled for you in units of Jupiter radii. 
                  Radius            Radius of Orbit
                  of Planet
                  or Moon
     Jupiter       1                not applicable
     Io            0.03              6
     Europa        0.02              10
     Ganymede      0.04              15
     Callisto      0.03              27

Attached are images of Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto taken from the World Wide Web. Use them to help you answer the following questions. FIRST ANSWER the questions BY YOURSELVES. THEN consult and DISCUSS these questions WITH your CLASSMATES for about 5 minutes, after which time we will discuss our results as a group and you may revise your answers. You may then hand in your paper to get credit.

Io


Europa


Ganymede


Callisto
2. Rank the four moons in order of most heavily impact cratered to least impact cratered.
3. Rank the four moons in order of largest to smallest impact craters, regardless of number of craters.
4. Which moon currently has active volcanoes?
5. Which moons show surface groves and cracks indicative of surface motion subsequent to impact cratering?
6. Given the above information, rank the ages of the SURFACE of the Galiliean moons of Jupiter from oldest to youngest.
7. Using your sketch from question 1, WHY do you think the ages of the SURFACES of the largest moons of Jupiter rank this way?

Updated: 1999.11.01 (Monday) 10:35:58 EST

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Bob Stein's home page, email: steinr@pilot.msu.edu