 Megaclite imaged by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in December 2001 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Scott S. Sheppard David C. Jewitt Yanga R. Fernandez Eugene A. Magnier |
| Discovery site | Mauna Kea Observatory |
| Discovery date | 25 November 2000 |
| Designations | |
Designation | Jupiter XIX |
| Pronunciation | /mɛɡəˈklaɪtiː/ |
Named after | Μεγακλειτή Megaclītē |
| S/2000 J 8 | |
| Adjectives | Megaclitean /ˌmɛɡəklɪˈtiːən/ |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 2026-01-01 | |
| Observation arc | 25 years 2025-12-21 (last obs) |
| Periapsis | 13.1 million km |
| Apoapsis | 33.80 million km |
| 23.5 million km | |
| Eccentricity | 0.440 |
| –734.6 days | |
| 256° | |
| 0° 28m 54.732s / day | |
| Inclination | 147.7° (to ecliptic) |
| 22.8° | |
| 32.4° | |
| Satellite of | Jupiter |
| Group | Pasiphae group |
| Physical characteristics[3] | |
| ≈ 6 km | |
| Albedo | 0.04 (assumed) |
| 21.7[4] | |
| 15.0[5] | |
Megaclite /mɛɡəˈklaɪtiː/, also known as Jupiter XIX, is one of Jupiter's smallest and outermost natural satellites.
Discovery and Naming
It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2000, and given the temporary designation S/2000 J 8.[6][1][7]
It was named in October 2002 after Megaclite, mother by Zeus (Jupiter) of Thebe and Locrus in Greek mythology. It was initially erroneously named Magaclite, which was corrected in November 2002.[8][9] Despite this correction, some earlier research still referred to the moon as Magaclite.[10]
Orbit
Megaclite orbits Jupiter (on average at 23.5 million km) on a high-eccentricity (0.440) and high-inclination (148° to ecliptic) retrograde orbit. The orbital elements are continuously changing due to solar and planetary perturbations.
It belongs to the Pasiphae group, a group of retrograde moons of Jupiter with semi-major axes spread over 22–25 million km, inclinations between 141° and 158°, and higher eccentricities between 0.22 and 0.44.
Physical characteristics
Megaclite's estimated diameter is 6 kilometers, assuming an albedo of 4%.
While Pasiphae belongs to the grey color class (B−V=0.74, V−R=0.38), Megaclite falls under the light red color class (B−V=0.94, V−R=0.41 ), similarly to Callirrhoe and Sinope.[10]
Origin
Megaclite probably did not form near Jupiter but was captured by Jupiter later. Megaclite is believed to be a fragment from a captured asteroid along with other Pasiphae group satellites.[11][12]
However, it falls into a different color class than Pasiphae and could therefore have been captured by Jupiter independently of the Pasiphae group.
References
- ^ a b MPEC 2001-A29: S/2000 J 7, S/2000 J 8, S/2000 J 9, S/2000 J 10, S/2000 J 11 2001 January 15 (discovery and ephemeris)
- ^ Horizons output. "Jovian Osculating Orbital Elements for Megaclite (519)". Retrieved 18 December 2025.
- ^ "Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ Sheppard, Scott. "Scott S. Sheppard - Jupiter Moons". Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Carnegie Institution for Science. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ "M.P.C. 115890" (PDF). Minor Planet Circular. Minor Planet Center. 27 August 2019.
- ^ IAUC 7555: Satellites of Jupiter Archived 2002-09-16 at the Wayback Machine 2001 January 5 (discovery)
- ^ MPEC 2001-T59: S/2000 J 8, S/2000 J 9, S/2000 J 10 2001 October 15 (revised ephemeris)
- ^ IAUC 7998: Satellites of Jupiter 2002 October 22 (naming the moon "Magaclite")
- ^ IAUC 8023: Satellites of Jupiter 2002 November 29 (correcting the name)
- ^ a b Grav, Tommy; Holman, M. J.; Gladman, B. J.; Aksnes, K. (2003). "Photometric survey of the irregular satellites". Icarus. 166 (1): 33–45. arXiv:astro-ph/0301016. Bibcode:2003Icar..166...33G. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2003.07.005. S2CID 7793999.
- ^ Brown, M. E. (2000). "Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Centaurs and Irregular Satellites". The Astronomical Journal. 119 (2). The American Astronomical Society: 977–983. Bibcode:2000AJ....119..977B. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.22.1349. doi:10.1086/301202. S2CID 15143844.
- ^ Sheppard, S. S.; and Jewitt, D. C.; An Abundant Population of Small Irregular Satellites Around Jupiter Archived 5 August 2003 at the Wayback Machine, Nature, Vol. 423 (May 2003), pp. 261-263
Listed in increasing approximate distance from Jupiter | |
| Inner moons | |
| Galilean moons | |
| Themisto | |
| Himalia group (9) | |
| Carpo group (2) | |
| Valetudo | |
| Ananke group (27) | |
| Carme group (31) | |
| Pasiphae group (18) | |
| See also | |
