Hermippe (moon)

Discovery image of Hermippe (Scott Sheppard and David Jewitt in 2001)

Hermippe (/hərˈmɪpiː/ hər-MIP-ee; Greek Ερμίππη), or Jupiter XXX, is a natural satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii led by David Jewitt and Scott S. Sheppard in 2001, and given the temporary designation S/2001 J 3.[1][2]

Hermippe is about 4 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 21 million kilometers in about 630 days, at an inclination of 151° to the ecliptic (149° to Jupiter's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.2290.

It was named in August 2003 by the IAU, after Hermippe, a lover of Zeus (Jupiter).[3]

Hermippe belongs to the Ananke group, retrograde irregular moons which orbit Jupiter between 19.3 and 22.7 gigametres (0.152 astronomical units), at inclinations of roughly 150°.

References

  1. ↑ IAUC 7900: Satellites of Jupiter May 16, 2002 (discovery)
  2. ↑ MPEC 2002-J54: Eleven New Satellites of Jupiter May 15, 2002 (discovery and ephemeris)
  3. ↑ IAUC 8177: Satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus 2003 August (naming the moon)
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