The moon of Jupiter –
Arche (XLIII) – was previously temporarily designated as S/2002 J1. It was discovered in 2002 by S.S. Sheppard
.
This discovery was achieved by 2.2-m telescope atop Mauna Kea (Hawaii). You can read additional details in The International Astronomical Union Circular
(→IAU).
Arche is a new satellite discovered
since the →Voyager-2
Jupiter system fly-by which occured 23 years ago (1979).
The moon is in elliptical retrograde orbit (→eccentricity
e = 0.2588) with a →semimajor axis a = 22,931,000 km. At pericenter (closest to the planet) Arche is separated from the Jupiter a distance of q = 16,996,457 km. At apocenter (furthest from the planet) this moon is separated from the Jupiter a distance of Q = 28,865,543 km.
In future these parameters may vary due to a large orbital distance from Jupiter and the orbital motion being disturbed by the Sun and other factors. Perhaps it is a captured asteroid (with a microscopic mass: ~4.4960×1013 kg – it equals
163 times less than a mountain like Giewont
!),
and in future will possibly return to heliocentric orbit.
The orbital period is a somewhat less than 2
earthly years, which means that the average speed of its celestial motion is
only 0°29'50'' per day. When this motion was detected and compared to the changes in Jupiter's position, this body was classified as a true planetary satellite (and not a distant celestial body with its position projected near the planet).
Other obstacle in detecting this moon earlier was its brightness of only 22.8m
(over 5.2 million times fainter than the faintest stars visible to naked eye). For comparison: Jupiter's brightness is about –2.7m,
so Arche is shining fainter by about 25.5m.
The corresponding difference in brightness is almost 16 billion times!
I have given some crucial data of Arche below. Table one
contains the basic information. Whereas table two gives more detailed parametrs
of its orbit (calculated using the following formulae).
Translated by Karol Pankowski