Callisto
| Callisto | |
|---|---|
 Callisto, fotograferet af rumsonden Galileo | |
| Opdaget | |
| 7. januar 1610, af Galileo Galilei og Simon Marius | |
| Kredsløb om Jupiter | |
| Afstand til Jupiter (massecenter) |
|
| Halve storakse | 1 882 709 km |
| Halve lilleakse | 1 882 657 km |
| Excentricitet | 0,0074 |
| Siderisk omløbstid | 16d 16t 32m 11,19s |
| Synodisk periode | — |
| Omløbshastighed |
|
| Banehældning | 2,02° i fh. t. ekliptika 0,21° i fh. t. Jupiters ækv. |
| Periapsisargument; ω | — ° |
| Opstigende knudes længde; Ω | — ° |
| Omgivelser | |
| — | |
| Fysiske egenskaber | |
| Diameter | 4821 km |
| Fladtrykthed | — |
| Overfladeareal | 7,3·107 km² |
| Rumfang | 5,9·1010 km³ |
| Masse | 1,0759·1023 kg |
| Massefylde | 1834 kg/m³ |
| Tyngdeacc. v. ovfl. | 1,240 m/s² |
| Undvigelseshastighed v. ækv. | 8640 km/t |
| Rotationstid | 16d 16t 32m 11,19s |
| Aksehældning | 0 ° |
| Nordpolens rektascension | — |
| Nordpolens deklination | — ° |
| Albedo | 17 % |
| Temperatur v. ovfl. | Gnsn. -150 °C Min. — °C Maks. — °C |
| Atmosfære | |
| Atmosfæretryk | ~ 0 hPa |
| Atmosfærens sammensætning | Carbonmonooxid: 100% |
Callisto er en måne i kredsløb om planeten Jupiter. Den er den tredjestørste måne i Solsystemet, og blev opdaget sammen med de øvrige tre galileiske måner, Io, Europa og Ganymedes, den 7. januar 1610 af Galileo Galilei. Månen er navngivet efter Kallisto fra den græske mytologi, om end dette navn først vandt udbredelse fra midten af det 20. århundrede — indtil da refererede faglitteraturen til Callisto som Jupiter-IV (IV som i romertallet 4; Jupiters 4. måne talt "indefra").
Callistos indre
Callistos overflade består af et ca. 200 kilometer tykt lag af vandig is oven på et mere end 10 kilometer dybt "hav" af "saltvand". Retningen af Callistos magnetfelt styres af baggrunds-magnetfeltet fra Jupiter, hvilket tyder på et lag af elektrisk ledende, flydende materiale inde i Callisto.
Under dette ishav findes en sammenpresset blanding af ca. 40% is og 60% klipper og jern, med lidt mere is i de yderste dele end inde ved kernen, i og med at sten og jern synker til bunds i blandingen med is. Dette giver i øvrigt Callisto den laveste massefylde blandt de galileiske måner. Man mener, at Saturn-månen Titan og Neptun-månen Triton har en lignende opbygning.
Overflade
I modsætning til "nabo-månen" Ganymedes med dens komplekse landskaber, er der ikke meget, der tyder på, at Callisto har pladetektonik. Selv om de to måner består af de samme stoffer, har Callisto helt tydeligt en meget simplere "geologi" end Ganymedes. Callisto er muligvis et godt "bud" på, hvordan de andre galileiske måner har set ud tidligt i deres historie.
Is-overfladen uden geologisk aktivitet gør, at der ikke er meget andet end kratre på Callisto — flere end på nogen anden måne. Der er ingen høje bjerge eller store kratre, for de bliver udvisket af at is-overfladen "flyder" ganske langsomt. Dog kan man finde nogle store ringformede plateauer, som er resterne af store, gamle kratre. To af disse kaldes Valhalla og Asgard.
Et interessant overfladetræk ved Callisto er en helt lige række af kratre, kaldet Gipul Catena. Man mener, at de skyldes brudstykkerne af et legeme, der blev revet i stykker af tidevandskræfterne, inden det ramte overfladen, ligesom det skete for kometen Shoemaker-Levy 9, inden den ramte Jupiter.
Atmosfære
Callisto har en ganske tynd atmosfære af carbonmonooxid.
Eksterne henvisninger
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Medier brugt på denne side
- Textured Terrain in Callisto's Asgard Basin
- original image caption: This fascinating region of Jupiter's icy moon, Callisto, shows the transition from the inner part of an enormous impact basin, Asgard, to the outer "surrounding plains." Small, bright, fine textured, closely spaced bumps appear throughout the inner part of the basin (top of image) and create a more fine textured appearance than that seen on many of the other inter-crater plains on Callisto. At low resolution, these icy bumps make Asgard's center brighter than the surrounding terrain. What caused the bumps to form is still unknown, but they are associated clearly with the impact that formed Asgard. The ridge that cuts diagonally across the lower left corner is one of many giant concentric rings that extend for hundreds of kilometers outside Asgard's center. Exterior to the ring (lower left corner), Callisto's surface changes significantly. Still peppered with craters, the number of icy bumps decreases while their average size increases. The fine texture is not as visible in the middle of the image. One explanation is that material from raised features (such as the ridge) may slide down slope and cover small scale features. Such images of Callisto help us understand the dynamics of giant impacts into icy surfaces, and how the large structures change with time. North is to the top of the picture. The image, centered at 27.1 degrees north latitude and 142.3 degrees west longitude, covers an area approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) by 90 kilometers (55 miles). The resolution is about 90 meters (295 feet) per picture element. The image was taken on September 17th, 1997 at a range of 9200 kilometers (5700 miles) by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its tenth orbit of Jupiter.
Bright scars on a darker surface testify to a long history of impacts on Jupiter's moon Callisto in this image of Callisto from NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The picture, taken in May 2001, is the only complete global color image of Callisto obtained by Galileo, which has been orbiting Jupiter since December 1995. Of Jupiter's four largest moons, Callisto orbits farthest from the giant planet. Callisto's surface is uniformly cratered but is not uniform in color or brightness. Scientists believe the brighter areas are mainly ice and the darker areas are highly eroded, ice-poor material.
This artist's concept, a cutaway view of Jupiter's moon Callisto, is based on recent data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft which indicates a salty ocean may lie beneath Callisto's icy crust.
These findings come as a surprise, since scientists previously believed that Callisto was relatively inactive. If Callisto has an ocean, that would make it more like another Jovian moon, Europa, which has yielded numerous hints of a subsurface ocean. Despite the tantalizing suggestion that there is an ocean layer on Callisto, the possibility that there is life in the ocean remains remote.
Callisto's cratered surface lies at the top of an ice layer, (depicted here as a whitish band), which is estimated to be about 200 kilometers (124 miles) thick. Immediately beneath the ice, the thinner blue band represents the possible ocean, whose depth must exceed 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to scientists studying data from Galileo's magnetometer. The mottled interior is composed of rock and ice.
Galileo's magnetometer, which studies magnetic fields around Jupiter and its moons, revealed that Callisto's magnetic field is variable. This may be caused by varying electrical currents flowing near Callisto's surface, in response to changes in the background magnetic field as Jupiter rotates. By studying the data, scientists have determined that the most likely place for the currents to flow would be a layer of melted ice with a high salt content.
These findings were based on information gathered during Galileo's flybys of Callisto in November 1996, and June and September of 1997. JPL manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.