Jupiter has 67 confirmed moons, giving it the largest number of moons orbiting a planet in our solar system. The four largest moons, known as the Galilean moons, were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. These moons are by far the largest objects orbiting Jupiter. Eight of Jupiter's moons have nearly circular prograde orbits that are aligned with Jupiter's equator, while the remaining moons have more eccentric retrograde orbits farther from Jupiter. Jupiter's regular moons are believed to have formed from an early circumplanetary disk, while the irregular moons were likely captured asteroids.

1. Jupiter's moons
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2. There are 67 confirmed moons of Jupiter. This gives it the largest number of moons with reasonably
secure orbits of any planet in the Solar System. The most massive of them, the four Galilean moons,
were discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei and were the first objects found to orbit a body that was
neither Earth nor the Sun. From the end of the 19th century, dozens of much smaller Jovian moons
have been discovered and have received the names of lovers, conquests, or daughters of the Roman
god Jupiter, or his Greek equivalent, Zeus. The Galilean moons are by far the largest and most
massive objects in orbit around Jupiter, with the remaining 63 moons and the rings together
comprising just 0.003 percent of the total orbiting mass.
Eight of Jupiter's moons are regular satellites, with prograde and nearly circular orbits that are not
greatly inclined with respect to Jupiter's equatorial plane. The Galilean satellites are ellipsoidal in
shape, due to having planetary mass, and so would be considered dwarf planets if they were in direct
orbit about the Sun. The other four regular satellites are much smaller and closer to Jupiter; these
serve as sources of the dust that makes up Jupiter's rings.The remainder of Jupiter's moons are
irregular satellites, whose prograde and retrograde orbits are much farther from Jupiter and have high
inclinations and eccentricities. These moons were probably captured by Jupiter from solar orbits.
There are 17 recently discovered irregular satellites that have not yet been named.

3. Jupiter and the galilean moons through a meade LX200 telescope….HOW AMAZING

5. Origin and evolution.
Jupiter's regular satellites are believed to have formed from a circumplanetary disk, a ring of accreting gas and solid debris
analogous to a protoplanetary disk. They may be the remnants of a score of Galilean-mass satellites that formed early in Jupiter's
history.
The relative masses of the Jovian moons. Those smaller than Europa are not visible at this scale, and combined would only be
visible at 100× magnification.
Simulations suggest that, while the disk had a relatively high mass at any given moment, over time a substantial fraction (several
tens of a percent) of the mass of Jupiter captured from the Solar nebula was processed through it. However, the disk mass of only
2% that of Jupiter is required to explain the existing satellites. Thus there may have been several generations of Galilean-mass
satellites in Jupiter's early history. Each generation of moons would have spiraled into Jupiter, due to drag from the disk, with new
moons then forming from the new debris captured from the Solar nebula. By the time the present (possibly fifth) generation
formed, the disk had thinned out to the point that it no longer greatly interfered with the moons' orbits. The current Galilean moons
were still affected, falling into and being partially protected by an orbital resonance which still exists for Io, Europa, and
Ganymede. Ganymede's larger mass means that it would have migrated inward at a faster rate than Europa or Io.
The outer, irregular moons are thought to have originated from passing asteroids while the protolunar disk was still massive
enough to absorb much of their momentum and thus capture them into orbit. Many broke up by the stresses of capture, or
afterward by collisions with other small bodies, producing the families we see today.