Summary
Caelum (The Chisel) A small constellation with no star brighter than fourth magnitude. It was introduced into the southern sky in the mid-eighteenth century by Nicolas L. de Lacaille, who called it “Caela Sculptoris.”
caldera A large volcanic crater.
Caliban One of two small moons of Uranus discovered in 1997 by Brett Gladman and others, using the ➤ Hale Telescope. It is reddish in color and thought to be a captured ➤ Kuiper belt object. Its diameter is estimated to be 98 km (61 miles).
California Nebula (NGC 1499) A bright ➤ emission nebula in the constellation Perseus, named for it resemblance to the shape of the US state. It forms the rim of a dark nebula of gas and dust illuminated by the star Xi Persei.
Callirrhoe A small outer moon of Jupiter discovered in 1999. Its diameter is about 9 km (6 miles).
Callisto The second largest moon of Jupiter and one of the four discovered in 1610 by Galileo. With a diameter of 4821 km (2996 miles), it is also the third largest moon in the solar system. Callisto is the darkest of the Galilean satellites and also the least dense, which suggests that it contains a high proportion of water, though detailed images returned by the ➤ Galileo spacecraft indicate that the surface has more rock and dust than previously supposed. Under its thick icy crust, Callisto may have a liquid ocean several kilometers deep. ➤ Voyager and Galileo images show a heavily cratered surface with no high hills or mountains.
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- Information
- Cambridge Illustrated Dictionary of Astronomy , pp. 47 - 82Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007