Elara (moon)

C. D. Perrine

Elara ( Jupiter VII ) is the second largest of the outer or irregular moons of Jupiter.

Discovery

Elara was discovered on January 2, 1905 by the astronomer Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory ( San Jose, CA ).

It was named after the moon Elara, a lover of Zeus in Greek mythology. Your official was named Elara in 1975, before she was called Jupiter VII.

Path data

Elara orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 11,741,000 km in 259.64 days. The track has an eccentricity of about 0.22 and about 26.6 ° relative to the local Laplace plane which coincides approximately with the plane of the path of Jupiter, inclined.

Because of their web properties it is the Himalia group, named after Jupiter's moon Himalia assigned.

Physical data

Elara has an average diameter of 86 km. Their density is 2.6 g / cm ³ relatively high, indicating that it is predominantly composed of silicate rock. It has a very dark surface with an albedo of 0.04, i.e., only 4% of the incident solar light is reflected. Their apparent brightness is 16.3 m.