Craters of Callisto Desk Sculpture

Callisto, one of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, was discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 and is the third largest moon in our solar system. Callisto is named after one of Zeus’s many lovers, a beautiful nymph. This stands in stark contrast with Callisto’s pockmarked surface, which boasts the most craters in the solar system.

It has been speculated that life could exist in the oceans beneath Callisto’s surface. Halophiles would theoretically be able to exist in the salt water, though the environmental conditions necessary for life appear to be less than favourable due to the lack of contact with rocky material and the low heat flux from the interior.

Though the early 1970’s saw the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecrafts fly by Callisto little new information was gathered until the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys in 1979. These ships were able to image more than half of Callisto’s surface with a resolution of 1-2 km and were able to precisely measure its temperature, mass and shape.

This desk sculpture pays tribute to Callisto in all her pockmarked beauty and the secrets that may be found in her subterranean oceans.