Carme (moon)

S. B. Nicholson

Carme ( Jupiter XI) is one of the outer moons of Jupiter.

Discovery

Carme was discovered on 30 July 1938 by the astronomer Seth Barnes Nicholson at Mount Wilson Observatory in California. Nicholson photographed Jupiter between July 5 and August 25, with Carme was visible on a photographic plate was exposed on July 30. The discovery of a new moon with Jupiter in late August of this year it was announced.

It was named after the moon Karme, a lover of Zeus in Greek mythology. It received its official name until 1975, before that he was simply referred to as a moon of Jupiter XI, as he was the eleventh moon discovered in Jupiter.

Path data

Carme orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 23,404,000 km in 734 days, 4 hours and 48 minutes. The track has an eccentricity of 0.2533. With an inclination of 164.907 ° the web is retrograde, that is, the moon moves against the direction of rotation of Jupiter around the planet. Based on this trajectory data Carme could not have come to Jupiter, but is probably a captured object. However, it is still unclear how this process proceeded exactly. Carme is the namesake of a group of moons, which move on similar orbits around Jupiter. The Carme group includes seventeen moons, with Carme is the largest member.

Physical data

Carme has an average diameter of about 46 km. Its density is estimated to be 2.6 g / cm ³. He is probably made ​​up predominantly of silicate rock. Carme has a very dark surface with an albedo of 0.04. Its apparent magnitude is 17.6 m.