Cyllene (moon) facts for kids
Cyllene (also called Jupiter XLVIII) is one of the many moons that orbit the giant planet Jupiter. It's a small, rocky world, much like a tiny asteroid.
Cyllene is part of a group of moons that travel around Jupiter in a special way. These moons orbit in the opposite direction to Jupiter's spin. This is called a retrograde orbit.
Discovery of Cyllene
Cyllene was found by a team of astronomers in 2003. This team was led by Scott S. Sheppard from the University of Hawaii. When it was first discovered, it was given a temporary name: S/2003 J 13.
About Cyllene
Cyllene is quite small, only about 2 kilometers (about 1.2 miles) wide. That's roughly the size of a small town!
It orbits Jupiter very far away, at an average distance of about 23,396,000 kilometers (about 14.5 million miles). It takes Cyllene a long time to go around Jupiter, about 731 days. That's more than two Earth years for one trip!
Cyllene's path around Jupiter is also quite tilted. It's tilted by about 140 degrees compared to Jupiter's equator. Its orbit is also not a perfect circle; it's a bit stretched out, which astronomers call an orbital eccentricity of 0.4116.
How Cyllene Got Its Name
In March 2005, this moon was officially named Cyllene. It was named after a character from ancient Greek mythology. Cyllene was a nymph, which is a type of nature spirit. She was either a stream nymph (a naiad) or a mountain nymph (an oread).
Cyllene was linked to a place called Mount Kyllini in Greece. In the myths, she was also said to be a daughter of Zeus. In Roman mythology, Zeus is known as Jupiter, which is why the moon orbits the planet Jupiter.
The Pasiphaë Group
Cyllene belongs to a family of moons called the Pasiphaë group. All the moons in this group are not perfectly round. They are also all retrograde moons, meaning they orbit Jupiter in the opposite direction of Jupiter's rotation.
These moons orbit Jupiter at distances between 22,800,000 and 24,100,000 kilometers. Their orbits are also quite tilted, ranging from 144.5 to 158.3 degrees.
See also
- In Spanish: Cilene (satélite) para niños
