Surface of Callisto, overview

Surface of Callisto

This is an image of Callisto in black and white.
Click on image for full size version (92K GIF)
Image from: NASA

The surface of Callisto is deeply pockmarked with craters. It looks to be perhaps the most severely cratered body in the solar system. There are also very large craters to be found there. The severity of the cratering indicates that the surface has not been altered by internal processes, or "resurfaced". This implies that Callisto, alone perhaps among the Galilean satellites, has not evolved and presents a surface preserved, pristine, from the beginning of the solar system. This fact renders Callisto very interesting to scientists because it may represent the "starting point" from which other icy bodies subsequently evoluted.

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Last modified April 28, 1997 by the Windows Team

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Surface of Callisto

This is an image of Callisto in black and white. Click on image for full size version (92K GIF) Image from: NASA

This is an image of Callisto in black and white.
Click on image for full size version (92K GIF)
Image from: NASA