Amalthea (moon)

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/amalthea-moon

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who discovered Amalthea (moon)?Discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard on September 9, 1892
2. What is the type of celestial body?Inner irregular moon of Jupiter
3. What is the orbital period?11 hours, 57 minutes, 22.8 seconds
4. What does Amalthea look like?Amalthea looks like a lumpy potato and is covered in a bright red dust.
5. Why is Amalthea not round?Its small mass means its gravity can’t pull it into a sphere, and big impacts have also shaped it into a bumpy form.

Hydrostatic Equilibrium: The balance between gravity pulling inward and internal pressure pushing outward, forming a spherical shape.
Magnetosphere: The region around a planet dominated by its magnetic field, trapping charged particles.
Plasma Torus: A ring-shaped cloud of ionized gas (plasma) found in planetary magnetospheres.
Comparative Planetology: Studying planets and moons by comparing their features to understand formation and evolution.