ESA JUICE probe targets dark Jovian moon Kallichore in 2031
The planet Jupiter hosts more than 100 moons with the majority of attention going to the four Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. This is primarily due to their active geology, including Io being the most volcanically active planetary body in the solar system and Europa having a vast subsurface liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust. However, Jupiter’s smaller and lesser-known…
The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft is set to fly by Jupiter’s smallest irregular moon, Kallichore, in 2031. Analysis of Kallichore, whose diameter is about 3.8 kilometers (2.4 miles), suggests it is incredibly dark, with a geometric albedo of 3.7 percent. This irregular moon, known for its extreme non-circular orbit, was the subject of a new study, whose findings were published in Nature.
To prepare for JUICE’s flyby, researchers used data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Gran Telescopio de Canarias. The study provided tighter constraints on Kallichore’s orbit, reducing the error margin from 272 kilometers (169 miles) to 30 kilometers (19 miles) by 2031. While the main focus of the JUICE mission is to study Jupiter’s icy Galilean moons for signs of habitable conditions, irregular moons like Kallichore offer a more primitive snapshot of the early solar system, providing valuable insights into its formation and evolution.
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