Callisto

Cal·lis·to

C0040500 (kə-lĭs′tō)n.1. Greek Mythology A nymph, beloved of Zeus and hated by Hera. Hera changed her into a bear, and Zeus then placed her in the sky as the constellation Ursa Major.2. One of the four brightest satellites of Jupiter. Originally sighted by Galileo, it is the third largest satellite in the solar system.

[Latin, from Greek Kallistō, perhaps from kallistos, superlative of kalos, beautiful.]

Callisto

(kəˈlɪstəʊ) n (Classical Myth & Legend) Greek myth a nymph who attracted the love of Zeus and was changed into a bear by Hera. Zeus then set her in the sky as the constellation Ursa Major

Callisto

(kəˈlɪstəʊ) n (Celestial Objects) the second largest (but faintest) of the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter, discovered in 1610 by Galileo. Approximate diameter: 4800 km; orbital radius: 1 883 000 km. See also Galilean satellite

Cal•lis•to

(kəˈlɪs toʊ)

n. 1. a nymph changed into a bear by Hera as punishment for a love affair with Zeus, and then transformed into the constellation Ursa Major. 2. a large moon of the planet Jupiter.

Thesaurus

Noun

Callisto - the second largest of Jupiter's satellites

Translations

Каллисто

Callisto

(kəlĭs`tō), in Greek mythology, an attendant of Artemis. Because she forsook her chastity and bore a son, Arcas, to Zeus, she was transformed into a bear by Artemis. According to another legend she was changed into a bear by the jealous Hera. Arcas, while out hunting, was about to kill her when Zeus intervened and transferred them both to the heavens, Callisto becoming the constellation Ursa Major [great bear] and Arcas becoming Arcturus.

Callisto

(kəlĭs`tō), in astronomy, one of the 39 known moons, or natural satellites, of JupiterJupiter
, in astronomy, 5th planet from the sun and largest planet of the solar system. Astronomical and Physical Characteristics

Jupiter's orbit lies beyond the asteroid belt at a mean distance of 483.6 million mi (778.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Callisto

(kă-liss -toh) The second largest of the four giant Galilean satellites of Jupiter, with a radius of 2400 km and a density of 1.86 g cm^–3. It is the faintest of the Galileans, having an albedo of 0.2. It is the most heavily cratered object so far discovered in the Solar System, exhibiting a number of ray systems, i.e. craters from which bright streaks radiate. Some major systems of concentric ring mountains are prominent, particularly in the neighborhood of the huge Valhalla Basin, which is located slightly north of the equator. The basin is a bright circular region 600 km in diameter and is surrounded by concentric rings 50–200 km apart; the outermost ring is 3000 km across. This basin is comparable with Orientale Basin on the Moon, the Caloris Basin on Mercury, and Hellas Planitia on Mars. A second huge basin on Callisto, Asgard Basin, has a total diameter of 1600 km. Prior to the Galileo mission, Callisto was thought to have a thick crust of ice and rock extending to a depth of 200 to 300 km, beneath which there was believed to be a mantle of 1000 km of convecting water or soft ice. But preliminary analysis of the Galileo data has suggested that Callisto's internal structure is relatively undifferentiated, although the proportion of rock to ice may increase toward the center. Callisto, the outermost of the Galilean satellites, is beyond the major charged particle environment of Jupiter. It appears to be geologically inactive, its surface cratering being due to innumerable impacts during the early history of the Solar System. Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have detected a tenuous oxygen atmosphere on Callisto, probably caused by the interaction between charged solar particles and water molecules in the satellite's icy crust. See also Jupiter's satellites; Table 2, backmatter.

Callisto

[kə′lis‚tō] (astronomy) A satellite of Jupiter orbiting at a mean distance of 1,884,000 kilometers. Also known as Jupiter IV.

Callisto

nymph that Zeus transformed into a bear. [Gk. Myth.: Walsh Classical, 28]See: Transformation