Basic Properties:
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The outer moons (further away than the Galileans) are
much smaller, have eccentric orbits, and orbit inclined or retrograde.
What
does this suggest about their origins?
The Galilean satellites are basically small planets. They all exist at the same distance from the Sun, where the equilibrium temperatures are cold enough that condensing objects should be a mix of rock and lots of volatile ices, with very little interior activity.
But as we shall see, the Galilean
objects have wildly different properties from one another. Why
might this be true?