S/2003 J 18 facts for kids

S/2003 J 18 is a small moon that goes around the giant planet Jupiter. It was first spotted by a group of astronomers in 2003. This team was led by a scientist named Brett J. Gladman.

Discovering S/2003 J 18

Scientists found S/2003 J 18 in 2003. It was discovered by a team of astronomers who were carefully looking at the sky. The leader of this team was Brett J. Gladman. Finding new moons around planets like Jupiter helps us learn more about our solar system.

Size and Orbit Around Jupiter

S/2003 J 18 is not very big. It's only about 2 kilometres wide. Imagine a small town or a couple of miles across – that's roughly its size!

This little moon travels around Jupiter very far away. Its average distance from Jupiter is about 19,813,000 km (that's almost 20 million kilometers!). It takes quite a long time to complete one full trip around Jupiter, about 569.728 days, which is nearly one and a half Earth years.

The path it takes around Jupiter is also quite special. It's tilted a lot, about 147 degrees, compared to the main flat path where most planets orbit the Sun (this is called the ecliptic). Its orbit isn't a perfect circle either; it's a bit stretched out.

Part of the Ananke Group

S/2003 J 18 belongs to a family of moons called the Ananke group. These are all moons that orbit Jupiter in a similar way.

Here are some cool facts about the Ananke group:

• They are retrograde moons. This means they orbit Jupiter in the opposite direction to how Jupiter spins.
• They are non-spherical. Unlike Earth's moon, these moons are not perfectly round like a ball. They have irregular shapes, like potatoes!
• They orbit Jupiter at distances between 19,300,000 and 22,700,000 km.
• Their orbits are all tilted at about 150 degrees, similar to S/2003 J 18.

Images for kids

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  Recovery image of Jupiter LV on 30 October 2010 (circled)