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Jupiter - Encyclopedia, History, Geography and Biography |
 | | A basic division is between the eight inner regular moons with nearly circular orbits near the plane of Jupiter's equator, which are believed to have formed with Jupiter, and an unknown number of small irregular moons, with elliptical and inclined orbits, which are believed to be captured asteroids or fragments of captured asteroids. |
 | | The four Galilean moons were all discovered by Galileo Galilei, orbit between 400,000 and 2,000,000 km, and include some of the largest moons in the solar system. |
 | | Carpo is another isolated case; at the inner edge of the Ananke group, it revolves in the direct sense. |
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