The moon of Jupiter –
Orthosie (XXXV) – was previously temporarily designated as S/2001
J9. 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 a Minor Planet Electronic Circular
(MPEC).
Orthosie is one of eleven new satellites discovered since the →Voyager-2
upiter system fly-by which occured 22 years ago (1979). With this moon, the
team discovered also: Autonoe, Thyone, Hermippe, Eurydome, Sponde, Pasithee,
Euanthe, Kale, Euporie and Aitne.
The name of that moon is of mythological origin. Orthosie was one of
the Horai, daughters of Zeus and Themis (his second wife). Horai (gr. Hórai)
were originally the impersonation of nature and they were depicted as beatiful
maidens holding in their hand blossoms and fruit. Then they tended to become
deities of ethical character and finally presided over the cycles of time:
seasons and hours.
The moon by this name is in elliptical retrograde orbit
(→eccentricity
e = 0.2808) with a →semimajor axis a = 20,720,000 km. At pericenter (closest to the planet) Orthosie is separated from the Jupiter a distance of q = 14,901,824 km. At apocenter (furthest from the planet) this moon is separated from the Jupiter a distance of Q = 26,538,176 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 1.7 earthly years, which means that the average speed of its celestial motion is only
0°34'42'' 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 23.1m
(over 6.9 million times fainter than the faintest stars visible to naked eye). For comparison: Jupiter's brightness is about
–2.7m,
so Orthosie is shining fainter by about 25.8m.
The corresponding difference in brightness is almost 21 billion times!
I have given some crucial data of Orthosie 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