Cannibalistic Jupiter Gobbled Up Its Early Moons

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A computer simulation has indicated that the gas giant Jupiter was once a cannibal, in the sense that it ate many of its moons early in its history.


The four giant Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter are the last survivors of at least five generations of moons that once circled the planet.

All the other moons - and there could have been 20 or more - were devoured by the planet in the early days of the solar system, Robin Canup of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, told New Scientist.