Iocaste

Iocaste (pronounced /ˌaɪ.ɵˈkæsti/ EYE-o-KAS-tee, or as in Greek Ιοκάστη), also known as Jupiter XXIV, is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2000, and given the temporary designation S/2000 J 3.[1][2]

Iocaste orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 20,723 Mm in 609.427 days, at an inclination of 147° to the ecliptic (146° to Jupiter's equator) with an eccentricity of 0.2874.

It was named in October 2002 after Jocasta,[3] the mother/wife of Oedipus in Greek mythology.

Iocaste belongs to the Ananke group, believed to be the remnants of a break-up of a captured heliocentric asteroid.[4][5]

The satellite is about 5 kilometres in diameter[6] and appears grey (colour indices B-V=0.63, R-V=0.36), similar to C-type asteroids.[7]

References

1. ^ IAUC 7555: Satellites of Jupiter January 5, 2001 (discovery)
2. ^ MPEC 2001-A28: S/2000 J 2, S/2000 J 3, S/2000 J 4, S/2000 J 5, S/2000 J 6 January 5, 2001 (discovery and ephemeris)
3. ^ IAUC 7998: Satellites of Jupiter 2002 October 22 (naming the moon)
4. ^ Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D. C.; An Abundant Population of Small Irregular Satellites Around Jupiter, Nature, Vol. 423 (May 2003), pp. 261-263
5. ^ Nesvorný, D.; Alvarellos, J. L. A.; Dones, L.; and Levison, H. F.; Orbital and Collisional Evolution of the Irregular Satellites, The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 126 (2003), pp. 398–429
6. ^ Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D. C.; Porco, C. C.; Jupiter's Outer Satellites and Trojans, in Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere, edited by Fran Bagenal, Timothy E. Dowling, William B. McKinnon, Cambridge Planetary Science, Vol. 1, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-81808-7, 2004, pp. 263-280
7. ^ Grav, T.; Holman, M. J.; Gladman, B. J.; and Aksnes, K.; Photometric survey of the irregular satellites, Icarus, Vol. 166 (2003), pp. 33-45

8. Ephemeris IAU-MPC NSES
9. Mean orbital parameters NASA JPL

External links

* David Jewitt pages
* Scott Sheppard pages