Praxidike (moon)

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Praxidike or Jupiter XXVII, is a non-spherical moon of Jupiter. It was found by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2000,[1][2] and given the designation S/2000 J 7.

Praxidike orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 20,824,000 km in 613.904 days, at an inclination of 144° to the ecliptic (143° to Jupiter's equator), with an orbital eccentricity of 0.1840.

It was named in August 2003 after Praxidike,[3] the Greek goddess of punishment.

Praxidike belongs to the Ananke group, believed to be the remnants of a break-up of a captured asteroid.[4][5] With an estimated diameter of 7 km, Praxidike is the second biggest member of the group after Ananke itself (assumed albedo of 0.04)[6]

The moon appears grey similar to C-type asteroids.[7]

References[change | change source]

  4. Sheppard, S. S., Jewitt, D. C.; An Abundant Population of Small Irregular Satellites Around Jupiter, Nature, Vol. 423 (May 2003), pp. 261-263
  6. Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D. C.; Porco, 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.; Aksnes, K.; Photometric Survey of the Irregular Satellites, Icarus, Vol. 166 (2003), pp. 33-45
  1. Ephemeris IAU-MPC NSES
  2. Mean orbital parameters NASA JPL

Other websites[change | change source]