Jupiter's Moons

Christine Joyce has a science project due next week at her school. She wanted it to be something special so she would get a good grade. After much thinking and wondering, CJ decided to do a report on Jupiter's moons. The rocket she used going to the moon was way too slow for a trip to Jupiter. She would have to build a spaceship that was much faster so the trip there would only take about an hour. After all, her mom did not want her late for dinner.

CJ worked hard all morning on her new spaceship. She was very smart and knew a saucer shape spaceship would go very fast and it was small enough that her mom did not think she was making a mess. At lunch time she decided the ship was ready and all she needed was some special fuel that would make her craft go very fast and also use just a little amount since there was not much room after she installed the computer. It was actually her mom's laptop computer which she had to promise to be very careful with it and make sure it did not get damaged on her trip to Jupiter. After eating a big lunch CJ began inventing her special fuel.

Christine Joyce knew that to make a special fuel you had to write a lot of numbers and letters on a chalk board. That is what they did in big colleges so she got her chalk and board out and started inventing her secret fuel. She knew of only one thing that went faster than light, and that was the power of thought. She mixed thought with direction and even added times squared, which goes in all special fuels. After adding about 100 zeros, CJ decided the fuel was just right. After getting a good nights sleep, she would head for Jupiter in the morning.

CJ was awake before the sun was even up making sure everything was just right. She ate an extra large breakfast while her mom packed her a lunch. CJ kissed her mom good-bye, grabbed her pink unicorn which is required for any long adventure, and headed for her spaceship. Her mom hollered out to her, " don't be late for dinner. " After climbing in and putting the seat belt on, CJ pushed the start button. She was already past Mars and going through the asteroid belt before she got straight in her seat. "Wow" CJ thought. "This ship is really fast." It was not much longer and she was arriving at Jupiter.

After flying around she realized there were over 60 moons. She did not have time to study them all so she chose to fly by the 4 larger moons. Trying to do a report on 60 moons would take at least a whole book. CJ had learned the name of these four moons in school. There are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Each of these moons were big enough to be a small world. She decided to start with Io with it being the closest to Jupiter.

As she flew close to Io, she discovered that there were hardly any crater impacts. Also there were many giant volcanoes, with many still erupting. It was very scary and also very exciting to watch. CJ took readings of the volcano on her computer and concluded that it might be sulfur dioxide erupting from these volcanoes. Next stop now was Europa.

While flying close to Europa, CJ discovered it was made up of a mostly frozen ocean with a possibility of liquid water in the depths. This could be a great place to go to cool off on the hot scorching days when you feel like you are going to melt. Europa is also lacking in craters which could mean an atmosphere to deflect space objects. Now she was off to Ganymede.

Christine Joyce was learning a lot and had much material for her project already. Just a couple more stops to make sure she gets a good grade. As she approaches Ganymede she takes measurements and finds out it is the biggest moon in the solar system. It is even larger than the planet Mercury which makes it a very big moon. CJ imagined a moon that big around Earth and had to laugh. It was now time to go to Callisto.

Callisto was very far away and CJ hoped she had enough fuel to get back home. These moons were exciting to look at but she did not want to stay here. After arriving at Callisto CJ found a very strange moon. It was also quite large and had it's own magnetic field, which is very unusual for a moon. This moon had so many craters that CJ knew she could never count them all. It was time to head back home which was good because she had plenty now for her science project.

Streaking through the solar system in her spaceship on the way home made Christine Joyce realize how much she missed her mom. Other planets are a great place to visit but Earth will always be home. Landing slowly in her backyard, CJ got out of her spaceship and went in for dinner.