Herse (moon) facts for kids
Herse is a small moon that goes around the giant planet Jupiter. It is one of many moons orbiting Jupiter.
Herse was first spotted by a team of scientists in 2003. The team was led by an astronomer named Brett J. Gladman and his colleagues. When they first found it, they gave it a temporary name: S/2003 J 17. This name was used until 2009, when it was officially named Herse.
Herse's Features
Herse is quite small. It is only about 2 kilometres wide. Imagine a small town; that's roughly the size of this moon!
It travels around Jupiter very far away. Its average distance from Jupiter is about 22,134,000 kilometres. It takes Herse a long time to complete one trip around Jupiter, about 672 days. That's almost two Earth years!
Herse's path around Jupiter is also quite tilted. This tilt is called its inclination. It is tilted about 162 degrees compared to the ecliptic, which is the path the Sun seems to take across the sky. Its path is also not a perfect circle; it's a bit oval-shaped. This oval shape is called its orbital eccentricity.
The Carme Group
Herse is part of a family of moons called the Carme group. This group is made up of several moons that orbit Jupiter in a special way.
These moons are not perfectly round like Earth's Moon. They are also "retrograde," which means they orbit Jupiter in the opposite direction to Jupiter's own spin. The moons in the Carme group orbit Jupiter at distances between 23,000,000 and 24,000,000 kilometres. Their paths are also tilted, much like Herse's, at about 165 degrees. Herse is the closest moon to Jupiter within this group.
See also
In Spanish: Herse (satélite) para niños
