Iocaste (moon)
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox planet
Iocaste, also known as Template:Nowrap, is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii including: David C. Jewitt, Yanga R. Fernandez, and Eugene Magnier led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2000, and given the temporary designation Template:Nowrap.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="MPEC-2001-A28">Template:Cite web</ref>
Iocaste orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 20.723 million kilometers in 632 earth 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,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the mother/wife of Oedipus in Greek mythology. The name ending in "e" was chosen in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's policy for designating outer moons with retrograde orbits.
Iocaste belongs to the Ananke group, believed to be the remnants of a break-up of a captured heliocentric asteroid.<ref name="SheppardJewitt2003">Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D. C.; "An Abundant Population of Small Irregular Satellites Around Jupiter" Template:Webarchive, Nature, Vol. 423 (May 2003), pp. 261–263</ref><ref name="Nesvorny2003">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 Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
The satellite is about 5 kilometres in diameter<ref name="SheppardJewittPorco2004">Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D. C.; Porco, C. C.; "Jupiter's Outer Satellites and Trojans" Template:Webarchive, in Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere, edited by Fran Bagenal, Timothy E. Dowling, and William B. McKinnon, Cambridge Planetary Science, Vol. 1, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, Template:ISBN, 2004, pp. 263–280</ref> and appears grey (colour indices B−V=0.63, R−V=0.36), similar to C-type asteroids.<ref name="Grav2003">Grav, T.; Holman, M. J.; Gladman, B. J.; and Aksnes, K.; "Photometric survey of the irregular satellites", Icarus, Vol. 166 (2003), pp. 33–45</ref>
See also
References
Further reading
- Ephemeris IAU-MPC NSES
- Mean orbital parameters NASA JPL