Moon of Jupiter · Solar System

Callisto

Above the horizon after darkHighest after dark 05:17 · east · 28°

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Where is Callisto?

Times for LondonChange city

Look east, about 28° up at 05:17 in Leo. It rises at 02:09 and climbs through the night.

Rises: 02:09
Highest: 09:32
Sets: 16:59
Best after dark: 05:17 · 28°

Can I see Callisto tonight?

Callisto always stays within a small fraction of a degree of Jupiter, so its position tonight is Jupiter’s position.

From London tonight, Callisto is above the horizon after dark. It’s highest just before dawn, around 05:17, in the east at 28°.

This is position and timing only: clouds, haze and light pollution aren’t included.

What does Callisto look like?

Eyes

Usually lost in Jupiter’s glare, though people with sharp eyes and a dark sky occasionally report glimpsing it when it is far from Jupiter.

Binoculars

Often the farthest of the star-like points beside Jupiter.

Telescope

A point of light well away from Jupiter, slightly fainter than the other large moons.

What you’re likely to see, not what a space telescope photographs.

About Callisto

Callisto is the outermost of Jupiter’s four large moons and the third-largest moon in the Solar System, almost as wide as Mercury.

Its dark surface is one of the most heavily cratered in the Solar System, almost unchanged for billions of years. Unlike Io and Europa, Callisto is not strongly heated by tides, though it may still hide a salty ocean deep inside.

Because it orbits so far from Jupiter, Callisto often sits well away from the planet, making it the easiest of the four to separate from Jupiter’s glare, even though it is the faintest.

Its largest impact feature, Valhalla, is a bright central patch surrounded by rings of ridges spanning thousands of kilometers. Callisto’s interior appears only partly separated into rock and ice layers, which suggests it formed slowly and has stayed cold.

Callisto takes almost 17 days to orbit Jupiter, so it changes position more slowly than the inner moons from night to night. ESA’s JUICE mission is planned to make many close flybys of Callisto.

Jupiter and its moons

Questions

Why is Callisto so cratered?

Its surface has hardly changed for billions of years, so it has kept a record of impacts.

Can I see Callisto with binoculars?

Yes, usually. Its distance from Jupiter makes it easier to separate from the glare.

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Sources: SkyMate; star chart: Wikidata (CC0). Positions computed for your place and time with astronomy-engine. Data & Licences