| 👁 Image Carme photographed by the Haute-Provence Observatory in December 1998 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Seth B. Nicholson |
| Discovery site | Mt. Wilson Observatory |
| Discovery date | 30 July 1938 |
| Designations | |
Designation | Jupiter XI |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkɑːrmiː/[2][3] |
Named after | Κάρμη Karmē |
| Adjectives | Carmean /kɑːrˈmiːən/[4] |
| Orbital characteristics[5] | |
| Epoch 17 December 2020 (JD 2459200.5) | |
| Observation arc | 82.02 yr (29,958 days) |
| 0.1509370 AU (22,579,850 km) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2294925 |
| –693.17 d | |
| 17.48241° | |
| 0° 31m 9.68s / day | |
| Inclination | 163.53496° (to ecliptic) |
| 209.94088° | |
| 133.45035° | |
| Satellite of | Jupiter |
| Group | Carme group |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 46.7±0.9 km[6] | |
| Mass | 8.69×1016 kg (calculated) |
Mean density | 1.63 g/cm3 (assumed)[7] |
| 10.40±0.05 h[8] | |
| Albedo | 0.035±0.006[6] |
Spectral type | D[6] |
| 18.9[9] | |
| 10.5[5] | |
Carme /ˈkɑːrmiː/ is one of the largest irregular satellites of Jupiter.
Discovery and naming
[edit]
It was discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson at Mount Wilson Observatory in California in July 1938.[1]
It is named after the mythological Carme, mother by Zeus of Britomartis, a Cretan goddess. Carme did not receive its present name until 1975;[10] before then, it was simply known as Jupiter XI. It was sometimes called "Pan"[11] between 1955 and 1975 (Pan is now the name of a satellite of Saturn).
Orbit
[edit]Carme orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 22,579,859 km in 693.17 days, at an inclination of 165° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.23. They are continuously changing due to solar and planetary perturbations.
It gives its name to the Carme group, made up of retrograde irregular moons orbiting Jupiter at distances ranging between 22.7–23.5 million km, at an inclination of about 165°, and eccentricities between 0.24 and 0.28.
Physical characteristics
[edit]With a diameter of 46.7±0.9 km (Albedo 3.5), it is the largest member of the Carme group and the fourth-largest irregular moon of Jupiter.[6]
Like the other members of the Carme group (except for Kalyke) it is light red in color (B−V=0.76, V−R=0.47), similar to D-type asteroids.[12]
The rotation period is approximately 10 hours and 24 min.[8]
Origin
[edit]Carme probably did not form near Jupiter but was captured by Jupiter later. Like the other members of the Carme group, which have similar orbits, Carme is probably the remnant of a broken, captured heliocentric asteroid.
See also
[edit]- Kallichore (moon) – a small Carme group moon that might be visited by the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission in 2031
- Irregular satellites
- Jupiter's moons in fiction
References
[edit]- ^ a b Nicholson, S. B. (1938). "Two New Satellites of Jupiter". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 50 (297): 292–293. Bibcode:1938PASP...50..292N. doi:10.1086/124963. S2CID 120216615.
- ^ Webster, Noah (1884). A Practical Dictionary of the English Language.
- ^ "Carme". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
- ^ Yenne, Bill (1987). The Atlas of the Solar System.
- ^ a b "M.P.C. 127087" (PDF). Minor Planet Circular. Minor Planet Center. 17 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d Grav, T.; Bauer, J. M.; Mainzer, A. K.; Masiero, J. R.; Nugent, C. R.; Cutri, R. M.; et al. (August 2015). "NEOWISE: Observations of the Irregular Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn" (PDF). The Astrophysical Journal. 809 (1): 9. arXiv:1505.07820. Bibcode:2015ApJ...809....3G. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/809/1/3. S2CID 5834661. 3.
- ^ Chen, Zhenghan; Yang, Kun; Liu, Xiaodong (23 December 2023). ""Life" of dust originating from the irregular satellites of Jupiter". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 527 (4): 11327–11337. arXiv:2402.03680. doi:10.1093/mnras/stad3829. ISSN 0035-8711.
- ^ a b Luu, Jane (September 1991). "CCD photometry and spectroscopy of the outer Jovian satellites". Astronomical Journal. 102: 1213–1225. Bibcode:1991AJ....102.1213L. doi:10.1086/115949. ISSN 0004-6256.
- ^ Sheppard, Scott. "Scott S. Sheppard - Jupiter Moons". Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Carnegie Institution for Science. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ IAUC 2846: Satellites of Jupiter 1974 October 7 (naming the moon)
- ^ Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia; Katherine Haramundanis (1970). Introduction to Astronomy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-478107-4.
- ^ 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.
