Kale 



The moon of Jupiter – Kale (XXXVII) – was previously temporarily designated as S/2001 J8. It was discovered in mid-December 2001 by the following team of astronomers: S.S. Sheppard, D.C. Jewitt i J. Kleyna. This discovery was achieved by the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii telescope atop Mauna Kea (Hawaii). You can read additional details in Minor Planet Electronic Circular (MPEC).
    Kale is one of eleven new satellites discovered since the →Voyager-2 Jupiter system fly-by which occured 22 years ago (1979). With this moon, the team discovered also: Autonoe, Thyone, Hermippe, Eurydome, Sponde, Pasithee, Euanthe, Orthosie, Euporie and Aitne.
    The name of that moon is of mythological origin. Kale was daughter of Zeus, one of the Charites (gr. Chárites), better known as the Roman Graces, personifications of charm and joy. Most authors name three of them being the famous Three Graces: Euphrosyne ("Mirth"), Aglaea ("Splendor") and Thalia ("Good Cheer"). They were often depicted in sculptures and paintings as three naked beauties already since the Hellenistic Times... Some mythologists speculate that she may have been the wife of Hephaistos (god of smiths and smith of the gods) since she was an allegory of the beauty of that sort of craftmanship (according to other traditions his wife was Aphrodite).  
    The moon by this name is in elliptical retrograde orbit (→eccentricity e = 0.2599) with a →semimajor axis a = 23,217,000 km. At pericenter (closest to the planet) Kale is separated from the Jupiter a distance of q = 17,182,902 km. At apocenter (furthest from the planet) this moon is separated from the Jupiter a distance of Q = 29,251,098 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: ~1.4987×1013 kg – it equals 490 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°29'37'' 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 23.0m (over 6.3 million times fainter than the faintest stars visible to naked eye). For comparison: Jupiter's brightness is about 25.7m. The corresponding difference in brightness is over 19 billion times!

I have given some crucial data of Kale 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


Kale

Mean distance from the planet  [×103 km] 23,217.0
Mean distance from the planet  [planetary R] 324.7
Orbital period  [days] 729.47
Orbital eccentricity  [e] 0.2599
Orbit inclination  [degrees] 165.0
Mean diameter  [km] 2.0
Main discoverer and year of the discovery S.S. Sheppard   2001
Visual magnitude  [mag] 23.0
Mass  [kg] ~1.4987 × 1013

Orbital Parameters

Pericenter
[q]
Apocenter
[Q]
Distance from the planet  [×103 km] 17,182.9 29,251.1
Distance from the planet  [planetary R] 240.3 409.2
Angular size of the moon's orbit observed from the Earth*  [degrees] 1°33'57.56'' 2°39'59.29''
Angular diameter of the planet's disc as observed from the moon  [degrees] 0°28'36.40'' 0°16'48.26''
Brightness of the planet as observed from the moon**  [mag] –10.5 –9.4
Diameter of the moon's disc as observed from the planet's "surface"  [degrees] 0°00'00.02'' 0°00'00.01''
Brightness of the moon as observed from the planet's "surface"**  [mag] 15.2 16.3
Orbital velocity  [km/sec] 3.05 1.79
  * This value is calculated for Jupiter at opposition (distance 628.8 million km = 4.2 AU)
** The given value of magnitude is not corrected for some decreasing factors (e.g. the changing phase of illumination)

See other related links:
Monde des MonatsCARMEGRUPPE
Jupiter's 2002 Satellites

The Astronomy Workshop – Satellite Viewer
Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters
Natural Satellite Physical Parameters



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