Jupiter has been taunting, bright in middle of the southern sky for—what? months now?—from our latitude. Only the moon and Venus can hold a candle to its magnitude, and Venus is off being coy somewhere below the horizon. So there is a bold Jovian dot up there, and we’ve been pointing David’s telescope at it. And trying to attach cameras to it. With mixed success.

In honor of our feeble attempts, here is Jupiter week! Each day a little snippet of astronomical wonder about the biggest planet we’ve got.

Monday: Anthropomorphic Moons

The Galilean Moons, so named because Galileo discovered them. And that's a whole other story. But anyway. Top to bottom: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto(Source: Wikipedia)

All four of the Galilean Moons (Jupiter’s four largest moons) are named after mythical folks who Zeus thought were smokin’ hawt.

Io was a priestess for ever-jealous Hera, a nymph. After Zeus got all up in her business, he had to turn her into a cow such that she could escape from his wrathful wife.

While we’re on the topic of cattle, Zeus turned himself into a white bull to run away with Europa (if you buy the Cretan version of the tale).

Ganymede was legendary, widely reputed to be the most comely of all mortals. So it’s no wonder that Zeus overlooked the fact that he was a guy and abducted him, too.

Poor Callisto got the short end of both sticks. Zeus disguised himself as Artemis (goddess of the hunt) to attract the lovely nymph and, once she was near, had his way with her. To add insult to injury, Zeus turned her into a bear and put her out among the stars.