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.

---

Example Sentences

With it he discovered sunspots, the phases of Venus, the craters of the Moon, and the four large moons of Jupiter now called, after him, the Galilean satellites.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Voyager 1 obtained excellent imagery of the other three Galilean satellites of Jupiter.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

The Galilean satellites of Jupiter are each almost as big as the planet Mercury.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

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 "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

We anticipate underground oceans of slush and water in these moons, a hint, before we have ever seen the surfaces of the Galilean satellites close up, that they may be very different one from another.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan