AI overview
S/2003 J 12 is a small moon of Jupiter that was discovered in 2003. While it's too distant and small to affect Earth directly, studying it helps astronomers better understand Jupiter's complex system of moons and how planets accumulate smaller bodies in their orbits.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Scott S. Sheppard et al.
- Discovery site
- Mauna Kea Obs.
- Discovery date
- 8 February 2003
- Observation arc
- 23 years, 2024-12-03 (last obs)
- Earliest precovery date
- 10 December 2001
- Semi major axis
- 0.1441046 AU (21,557,740 km)
- Orbital period sidereal
- –1.77 yr (–646.64 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 295.36521 °
- Mean motion
- 0° 33 24.215 / day
- Inclination
- 154.69036° (to ecliptic )
- Longitude of ascending node
- 127.52296°
- Argument of perihelion
- 86.84711°
Article
S/2003 J 12 is a natural satellite of Jupiter, and is one of the smallest known natural satellites in the Solar System. It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2003.
S/2003 J 12 is about 2.4 km (1.5 mi) in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 21,600 Mm in 647 days, at an inclination of 155° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.366. It was initially thought to be the innermost of the retrograde satellites of Jupiter, but recovery observations have shown that it is an ordinary member of the Ananke group.