The four larger moons mentioned above, also known as the 'Galilean moons', account for 99.997 percent of the total mass of Jupiter's moons. The other 91 moons account for only 0.003 percent. In ...

But the question of how many natural satellites the planet truly has is a bit more complicated. Jupiter's four best-known moons are the Galilean moons, discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610.

The 4 Galilean moons. From left to right in order of increasing distance from Jupiter, Io is closest, followed by Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Credit: NASA/JPL/DLR ...

The largest Galilean moon, Ganymede, is bigger than the planet Mercury. Those moons orbit close to Jupiter and travel in the same direction as the planet spins.

Oc­cul­ta­tion of Jupiter and the Galilean moons – Io, Eu­ropa, Ganymede and Cal­lis­to – by Deimos, ob­served dur­ing Mars Ex­press or­bit 22,859, on 14 Febru­ary 2022. The dis­tance from Mars ...

It mirrors the progress of our own understanding of Jupiter, from an age of superstition when Galileo first sighted these moons, to our modern era of exploration and excitement. To me, it's perfect.

If you miss this line-up of the four Galilean moons on Feb. 5, look for them again on Feb. 18, except now they will be to your left of Jupiter.

Jupiter's bright moons can be seen from Earth, here's when Erin WencksternMeteorologist Published on Jun. 9, 2019, 10:26 PM Updated on Jun. 10, 2019, 12:26 AM ...