Galilean satellites

American  

plural noun

Astronomy.

1. the four largest and brightest moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, discovered by Galileo in 1610.

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Example Sentences

The moons were named by him the ‘Medician stars’, in honour of Cosimo, but are known to astronomers today as the Galilean satellites of Jupiter.

From Literature

Because of their small size, the Galilean satellites’ tug on one another has long been considered irrelevant as well.

From Scientific American

By probing an oft-neglected quantity in the study of the Galilean satellites, Hay’s research has provided a new way to look at them.

From Scientific American

Observations of Jupiter’s Galilean satellites—Europa, Callisto, Ganymede and Io—have long hinted at the presence of subsurface liquid layers.

From Scientific American

Whereas Earth’s oceans have an average depth of about 3.7 kilometers—and plunge to 11 kilometers at their deepest point in the Mariana Trench—the Galilean satellites’ oceans are thought to reach hundreds of kilometers.

From Scientific American