Talk:Callisto (moon)

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Callisto (moon) is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

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Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
July 26, 2007	Peer review	Reviewed
October 14, 2007	Featured article candidate	Promoted
March 10, 2008	Featured topic candidate	Promoted
September 4, 2008	Featured topic removal candidate	Demoted
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January 13, 2024	Featured topic candidate	Promoted
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Text and/or other creative content from this version of Life on Callisto was copied or moved into Callisto_(moon)#Potential_habitability_in_the_ocean with this edit on August 2015. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.

Nature of Carbon Dioxide Atmosphere

Does anyone know the nature of the carbon dioxie atmosphere? I've always thought that it was unusual for the atmosphere to be composed of carbon dioxide. I've searched all through the internet and I haven't found an answer, so if anyone here knows anything about that it would be cool if you put it in the article.

For more info, see:

Carlson, R. W., A tenuous carbon dioxide atmosphere on Jupiter’s moon Callisto, Science 283, 820, 1999.

Liang, M.-C., B. F. Lane, R. T. Pappalardo, M. Allen, and Y. L. Yung, Atmosphere of Callisto, J. Geophys. Res. 110, E02003, doi:10.1029/2004JE002322, 2005.

Adjectival form

Anybody know the adjectival form of Callisto? The Greek accusative/oblique doesn't have any additional consonants, which is how we get Ionian from Io, for example. The only technical paper I've seen had Callistoan, but Callistonian (by analogy) and Callistan might also be possibilities. Any thoughts? kwami 21:31, 2005 May 27 (UTC)

The Classics reference librarian at the UCSD library couldn't find anything, but suggested Callistoan kal'-is-toe'-un, thus tentatively confirming the single instance I could find in the tech literature, as well as giving it a pronunciation. kwami 00:18, 2005 May 28 (UTC)

Found other astr. papers that use "Callistoan". E.g., age measures of Ganymedean and Callistoan surfaces. kwami 23:56, 2005 July 21 (UTC)

Found an earlier source, from a time when astronomers were more familiar with the Classics: "Callistonian" in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v.71, 1911. — kwami (talk) 06:46, 12 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The name

Any documentation for the analysis of Galileo's motives?

...it is simply referred to by its Roman numeral designation (a system used by Galileo to snub Marius)

Maybe he used the numerals because he had used them in 1610 when he determined their orbital periods, four years before Simon Mayr (Marius) showed up with a claim to discovery. A 'snub" (though entirely justified by the facts of the case) is not supported by documentation. --Dandrake 00:31, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC)

Liquid Ocean

Does anyone know the source for the liquid ocean claim? One of my astro books says "Callisto is undifferentiated and hence apparently never melted". That doesn't directly contradict the liquid ocean claim but it makes me very dubious. It also shows a diagram of Callisto having a rock/ice mixture.

The induced magnetic field, which implies a conductor within:

Kivelson, M. G., K. K. Khurana, D. J. Stevenson, L. Bennett, S. Joy, C. T. Russell, R. J. Walker, C. Zimmer, and C. Polanskey, Europa and Callisto: Induced or intrinsic fields in a periodically varying plasma environment, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 4609–4626, 1999.

Reconciling an ocean and an only partially differentiated interior is certainly an unresolved problem!

- The Liquid Ocean is definitely nitrogen. And there are magma pockets of iron everywhere. Fatum81 (talk) 12:57, 13 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Utter rubbish, Fatum81. Go away. HammerFilmFan (talk) 19:54, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Strange wording?

"It is the third-largest moon in the solar system, about 99% the size of the planet Mercury but much less massive."

to me, this sounds a bit.. off.. I would fix it, but I'm not sure about what is implied by "massive". is it weight/mass or to size (I'm assuming the former, but I'm not sure which)--DiogenesTheHobo 03:58, 15 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The quote is correct. By massive, we're referring to mass, as opposed to the size, which is how far across it is. Mercury is very dense, with a large metal core, while Callisto is composed of rock and ice. --Patteroast 21:34, 15 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

References

I added necessary references and also made some corrections. I think the article does cite sources accuratly. I think it would be helpful if someone (preferably a native english speaker) reviewed it now. Ruslik 13:07, 18 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Peer review

I have requested peer review of this article. Please, participate. Ruslik 13:53, 19 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Copyediting

OK, I'm having a go at kneading the text a bit but a few words I'm not sure about:

unhomogeneous? why not heterogeneous.

Agree, Ruslik 09:38, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

make a definition for embay on wiktionary and link to there, rather than an explanation here

Agree, I wasn't the person who added it. Ruslik 09:38, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

dynamical should be dynamic shouldn't it?

Not sure here, it actually intends to mean that from the point of view of dynamics, Callisto is isolated. Ruslik 09:38, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is an old issue, but the text persists. I think "dynamic" and "dynamical" have subtly different meanings, at least to me as a science student. I'm pretty wary of the word "dynamic" anyway, but I usually take it as describing something that is constantly changing, versatile, or able to change rapidly. "Dynamical" describes a system that involves motion. The motion might be defined by parameters that are constant over long periods of time, but that there is motion is enough for it to be "dynamical".

In the light of "dynamic isolation" in the text, I'm pretty sure that "dynamic" should be changed to "dynamical". I, however, am not nearly bold enough to tinker with a featured article. Warrickball (talk) 16:42, 12 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

palimpsests -please define or link

I changed to "dynamical". Actually, tinkering with F articles it is not such a big thing :-). Ruslik (talk) 19:03, 12 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

palimpsest is defined as a large circular or elliptic bright feature. The are probably unresolved impacts structures.Ruslik 09:38, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

More to come. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 09:19, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This sentence could be misleading to the beginning student - its really a non-seqitor, although its clear what the author was trying to say.

"It does not form part of the orbital resonance that affects three inner Galilean satellites—Io, Europa and Ganymede—and thus does not experience appreciable tidal heating."

Its the fact that Callisto is tidally locked with one face always facing Jupiter (mentioned a little later) that causes it to not experience tidal heating. Not being in the resonance made it possible for it to settle into this state but the resonance is not the direct cause of the heating in the other moons. A newly captured moon or one in a highly elliptical orbit will also experience tidal heating. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.134.137.71 (talk) 22:03, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Inner satellite - Mistake ?

Hello,

the article is stating Like most other inner planetary moons, Callisto's rotation is locked to be synchronous with its orbit. But the article Inner_satellite#Inner_satellites_of_Jupiter doesn't include this moon as an inner satellite of Jupiter. Poppy 18:44, 4 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

To avoid confusion I changed 'inner' to 'regular'. Ruslik 19:11, 4 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Evolution link?

There's a link to evolution in the article that currently points to the wrong article (evolution in the biological sense). I looked at the disambiguation page and didn't see any articles that matched the sense of the word used here very well (though I may have missed it). Should that stay linked, and to what? —AySz88 \^-^ 05:23, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Evolution (term)? SnottyWong talk 16:38, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Tilt

The axial tilt is said to be "zero Greek". I am not sure what this means. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.176.147.218 (talk) 17:12, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The word "Greek" has now disappeared.

Third largest?

it is definitely fourth largest after the Moon, Ganymede and Titan.--MathFacts (talk) 21:55, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Earth's moon (radius 1740km) is smaller than Callisto (radius 2410km). See also: List of moons#Moons of planets and dwarf_planets -- Kheider (talk) 22:28, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Question about endogenic force

I have a question pertaining to endogenic forces. It is stated that Callisto does not have tectonic activities or any sorts of endogenic forces due to its distance from Jupiter and its non-participation in the Laplace resonance. However, in the section surface features, it is mentioned that some surface features "were believed to be connected with endogenic activity" or "are possible cryovolcanic deposits". Isn't this a contradiction? Thank you very much. Mimihitam (talk) 20:06, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

See earlier observation

The article says that Callisto was discovered in 1610. As it has a magnitude of 5.65 at opposition, it should be visible to the unaided eye. All four of the brightest moons of Jupiter are visible in this way, in theory.

Yes, but good luck seeing any of them next to the bright Jupiter! If you block out Jupiter with a line running perpendicular to the orbital plane of the Galilean moons, maybe Ganymede and/or Callisto would be visible, but almost certainly not Io or Europa. Those two are just too close to Jupiter. Ref. Double sharp (talk) 14:19, 22 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Merge discussion at Talk:Life on Callisto

There is an ongoing discussion at Talk:Life on Callisto about whether to merge Life on Callisto into Callisto (moon). Any reasoned comments would be helpful. A2soup (talk) 15:21, 16 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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Corrected figures for Callisto's ocean

Originally said it could be as close as 80 km from the surface. That seems very close, more like Europa. Anyway the citation says [1]

"The thickness of the ice-I crust is 135–150 km, and that of the underlying water layer, 120–180 km."

And

" The allowed total (maximum) thickness of the outer water–ice shell is up to 270–315 km"

Have corrected the article accordingly Robert Walker (talk) 22:58, 3 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

You confused the "maximum allowed crust thickness" with a realistic crust thickness. In addition these numbers are a summary of models from two papers. Ruslik_Zero 20:51, 3 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Problem in Spanish Wikipedia

In the Spanish Wikipedia Callisto's data talks about Callisto's perihelion and aphelion implying that they mean the same as periapsis and apoapsis (and those terms are only employed when the object is orbiting around the Sun). I spotted and explained the problem in the Spanish discussion page, but no answer was received, I would appreciate if any fellow English Wikipedian could go and change the wrong data in most of Jupiter's moons. I know this entry may break a rule of some protocol but, as it is considered a good article, I suppose all of its information should be correct as soon as possible. Thanks! 79.155.141.201 (talk) 20:44, 24 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It has been a few months since I last wrote this comment, and this article is in the 'good ones' category, so I'm sure that some people have read this comment. Please, would you mind helping us spaniards? --79.155.141.201 (talk) 18:26, 17 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Incomplete Sentence

In the first sentence of the third paragraph it seems to be missing the object of the sentence. Can someone please add this? "The surface of Callisto is the oldest and most heavily cratered WHAT in the Solar System.[16]" Editing leef (talk) 18:46, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"object", per the ref. Praemonitus (talk) 05:27, 18 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"surface" is implied. —Tamfang (talk) 16:14, 12 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Jargon in Composition section

The statement "Callisto is not in hydrostatic equilibrium; its S₂₂ coefficient from gravity data is an anomalous 10% of its C₂₂ value" in the third paragraph of Callisto (moon)#Composition is not comprehensible. The two coefficients are not mentioned anywhere earlier, and skimming the reference (HOW DIFFERENTIATED IS CALLISTO?) doesn't leave me much enlightened. Presumably these are engineering terms relating to angular momentum, and can use some elucidation. Can someone who knows what they apply to provide an explanation or reference? Thanks, Tarl N. (discuss) 01:51, 2 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Atmosphere and ionosphere paragraph

There's a really long, dense paragraph at the end of the "Atmosphere and ionosphere" section that could use a bit of trimming down to make it more accessible. Praemonitus (talk) 21:50, 16 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Given Callisto's atmosphere have been modelled to gain better understanding of impact of collisional molecular interactions.[67] The modelling consisted of a kinectic method to simulate the collisions that take place between the constituent elements of the atmosphere. Callisto's environments were simulated on a single component and multi-component basis of radiolytic volatile compounds.[68] The constituent elements considered during the simulation are those observed in Callisto's atmosphere by the Hubble Space Telescope: carbon dioxide, molecular oxygen, and molecular hydrogen. Within the molecular kinetics model used for simulation, the seemingly high atmospheric density of Callisto can be described by the thermal accommodation and desorption of the compounds listed above. This thermal desorption is proposed to be a product of solar exposure, with high variation in temperature observed during the day and night cycle of the prospective moon.[69] Due to the transition from collisional to collision-less interactions, the direct simulation Monte Carlo method can describe Callisto's atmosphere with relative accuracy.[67] Each particle of the radiolytic volatiles were evaluated with factors such as initial position, velocity, and internal energy in mind. Given that the method is transient by nature, atmospheric collisions and thermal desorption take effect until each radiolytic volatile compound exhibits steady state properties at the macroscopic level. Radiative heating and cooling of the atmosphere is evaluated at noon and midnight, times that describe when the respective heat transfer are at the maximum for each end of the scale. The simulations were performed under the assumption that the carbon dioxide, oxygen, and hydrogen found in Callisto's atmosphere thermally desorb into the moon's regolith, and all thermal dynamics shown are only represented by molecular kinetic interaction. In an evaluation of the data presented throughout the simulation, the density of Callisto’s atmosphere can be described by the trapping of hydrogen gas by way of molecular interaction with the heavier gases, namely carbon dioxide and oxygen. The three radiolytic volatiles are presumed to be present throughout the moon's surface and are expelled by means of thermal excitation. Once the compounds are heated, they begin to radiate outward from the surface of the moon. Due to hydrogen’s lighter nature, it is observed that it is the primary constituent involved in molecular collision, attempting to escape through the macroscopic cracks between the heavier constituents. This simulation provides closer insight into how these kinetic interactions between molecules influence the excitation of each constituent and how it affects Callisto’s atmosphere. Although the simulations are limiting in terms of variables considered, it is concluded that the molecular kinetics model used provides simulated densities that correlate to thresholds expected by means of experimental detection.[68]

My summary, please correct me if I miss something or didn't understand it: Researchers used a kinetic method to model the collisions between the constituent elements of Callisto's atmosphere (carbon dioxide, molecular oxygen, and molecular hydrogen). The modeling took into account the thermal desorption of these compounds due to solar exposure and the resulting variations in temperature on the surface. The simulation showed that the density of Callisto's atmosphere can be explained by the trapping of hydrogen by the heavier gases, carbon dioxide and oxygen. The model shows how kinetic interactions between molecules affect the atmosphere, although it has limitations in terms of variables considered. The simulated densities correlate with expected thresholds for experimental detection. Artem.G (talk) 09:26, 10 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

will publish it, feel free to revert. Artem.G (talk) 20:19, 16 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Telescope link in lead paragraph

The third sentence of the lead paragraph of this article reads: "It is the outermost of the four large Galilean moons of Jupiter, which were discovered in 1610 with one of the first telescopes, being visible from Earth with common binoculars."

'telescopes' is linked to the wiki page for 'Telescope'. Since in this context it is referring specifically to the moon's discovery by Galileo, and the device he used, might it not be more accurate and helpful to link the phrase 'first telescopes' to either https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Refracting_telescope or https://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Refracting_telescope#Galilean_telescope ? Darkskysunflowers (talk) 19:53, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]