Pasiphae group
The Pasiphae group is a group of retrograde irregular satellites of Jupiter that follow similar orbits to Pasiphae and are thought to have a common origin.
Their semi-major axes (distances from Jupiter) range between 22.6 and 24.3 million km (similar range as the Carme group), their inclinations between 141.5° and 157.3°, and their eccentricities between 0.22 and 0.44.
The members of the Pasiphae group are (in order by date announcement):<ref name="SheppardJewittPorco2004">Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Carolyn Porco 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, Template:ISBN, 2004, p. 263 - 280 Full text(pdf). Template:Webarchive</ref>
| Name | Diameter (km)<ref name="scott jupiter">Scott S. Sheppard Moons of Jupiter, Scott S. Sheppard Carnegie Science,
[1], Retrieved 25 January 2024</ref>||Semi-Major Axis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pasiphae | 58 | Template:Val | –734.42 | largest member and group prototype |
| Sinope | 38 | Template:Val | –744.60 | red colour |
| Callirrhoe | 7 | Template:Val | –749.79 | reddish colour |
| Megaclite | 6 | Template:Val | –752.86 | reddish colour |
| Autonoe | 4 | Template:Val | –749.61 | |
| Eurydome | 3 | Template:Val | –707.86 | |
| Sponde | 2 | Template:Val | –737.95 | |
| S/2003 J 4 | 2 | Template:Val | –709.12 | |
| Aoede | 4 | Template:Val | –749.07 | |
| Hegemone | 3 | Template:Val | –728.77 | |
| Cyllene | 2 | Template:Val | –743.21 | |
| Kore | 2 | Template:Val | –769.42 | |
| Philophrosyne | 2 | Template:Val | –694.20 | |
| S/2003 J 23 | 2 | Template:Val | –751.40 | |
| S/2011 J 2 | 1 | Template:Val | –708.29 | |
| S/2017 J 1 | 2 | Template:Val | –747.44 | |
| S/2017 J 6 | 2 | Template:Val | –724.47 | |
| S/2016 J 4 | 1 | Template:Val | –718.04 |
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) reserves names ending in -e for all retrograde moons.
Origin
The Pasiphae group is believed to have been formed when Jupiter captured an asteroid which subsequently broke up after a collision. The original asteroid was not disturbed heavily: the original body is calculated to have been 60 km in diameter, about the same size as Pasiphae; Pasiphae retains 99% of the original body's mass. However, if Sinope belongs to the group, the ratio is much smaller, 87%.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Unlike the Carme and Ananke groups, the theory of a single impact origin for the Pasiphae group is not accepted by all studies. This is because the Pasiphae group, while similar in semi-major axis, is more widely dispersed in inclination.Template:Efn Alternatively, Sinope might be not a part of the remnants of the same collision and captured independently instead.<ref name="Grav2003">Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Gladman, Brett J.; Aksnes, Kaare Photometric survey of the irregular satellites, Icarus, 166,(2003), pp. 33-45. Preprint</ref> The differences in color class between the objects (grey for Pasiphae, light red for Callirrhoe and Megaclite) also suggest that the group could have a more complex origin than a single collision.<ref name="Grav2003"/>
Notes
References
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