Hermippe (moon) facts for kids

Hermippe, also known as Jupiter XXX, is one of the many moons that orbit the giant planet Jupiter. It is a small, rocky moon that was first spotted by scientists in 2001.

Discovering Hermippe

A team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii found Hermippe in 2001. This team was led by a scientist named Scott S. Sheppard. When they first saw it, they gave it a special code name: S/2001 J 3. This code helps scientists keep track of newly found objects in space.

Hermippe's Size and Journey

Hermippe is quite small, only about 4 kilometres (about 2.5 miles) wide. It travels around Jupiter at a very long distance, about 21,182,000 kilometres (about 13.1 million miles) away. One full trip around Jupiter takes Hermippe about 630 days, which is almost two Earth years!

Hermippe's path around Jupiter is not a perfect circle; it's a bit stretched out. Scientists call this its eccentricity. Its path is also tilted quite a bit compared to Jupiter's equator. This tilt is called its orbital inclination.

How Hermippe Got Its Name

In August 2003, the IAU officially named this moon Hermippe. It was named after Hermippe, who was a lover of Zeus in ancient Greek stories. Zeus is the Greek god that the planet Jupiter is named after.

Part of the Ananke Group

Hermippe belongs to a family of moons called the Ananke group. These moons are special because they orbit Jupiter in the opposite direction of Jupiter's spin. Scientists call this a "retrograde" orbit. Moons in the Ananke group are not perfectly round, and they orbit Jupiter at similar distances, usually between 19,300,000 and 22,700,000 kilometres. Their orbits are also tilted by about 150 degrees.

Images for kids

• 

  Discovery image of Hermippe and Eurydome together taken in December 2001

See also

In Spanish: Hermipé (satélite) para niños