Jupiter's Moons

Solar System - Jupiter - orbits

What it shows:
Static 3-D model showing the orbital paths of Jupiter's satellites.

How it works:
The model marks the orbital paths of the Jovian satellites to a scale of 1.5cm = 10⁶ km. This scale allows the orbit of the outermost satellite Sinope to fit within a 1m × 1m plywood base. The orbits of the outer 8 satellites are marked using loops of 2mm × 1mm spring steel supported to their correct heights by 5mm Plexiglas rods (Pasiphae rising to the greatest height of 42cm). The Galilean satellites, because of their near zero inclination and small orbital radius, are represented as circles etched on a 10cm diameter Plexiglas disc at the center of the board, 20cm above the base. The inner four satellites are not represented. Table 1 includes the necessary data.

table 1. Jovian satellite data (reference 1)

satellite	distance rJ	eccentricity	inclination (deg.)
14 Adrastea	1.80	~0.0	~0.0
16 Metis	1.80	~0.0	~0.0
5 Amalthea	2.55	0.003	0.4
15 Thebe	3.11	~0.0	~0.0
1 Io	5.95	0.004	0.0
2 Europa	9.47	0.000	0.5
3 Ganymede	15.1	0.001	0.2
4 Callisto	26.6	0.010	0.2
13 Leda	156	0.146	26.7
6 Himalia	161	0.158	27.6
10 Lysithea	164	0.130	29.0
7 Elara	165	0.207	24.8
12 Ananke	291	0.17	147
11 Carme	314	0.21	164
8 Pasiphae	327	0.38	145
9 Sinope	333	0.25	153

* relative to Jupiter's radius = 71350km

Setting it up:
Sits on the lecture bench, but could also be mounted on a turntable^tot to present various aspects to the audience.

Comments:
Model was built by Jan Zimmerman '80 for class project. Rating *

References:
1. K. R. Lang, Astrophysical Data: Planets & Stars, (Springer-Verlag 1991), p 70

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