Inner moons of Jupiter
The inner moons of Jupiter are four small moons that orbit close to Jupiter. These moons are closely interconnected with the rings of Jupiter and serve as both sources and sinks of the ring's material. Their semi-major axes range between 128,000 and 222,000 km.[1]
The members of the group are (in order from closest to farthest):
Metis and Adrastea each orbit Jupiter in less than one Jovian day (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate once). Phobos, a moon of Mars, is the only other moon known to orbit its planet in less than the length of that planet's day.
Gallery of images
[change | change source]-
Image of Metis taken by the Galileo spacecraft -
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Images of Amalthea taken from the Galileo spacecraft -
Image of Thebe taken by the Galileo spacecraft
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ Burns, J.A.; D.P. Simonelli & M.R. Showalter et al. (2004), "Jupiter’s Ring-Moon System", in Bagenal, F.; Dowling, T. E.; McKinnon, W. B., Jupiter: The planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere, Cambridge University Press
Listed in increasing approximate distance from Jupiter | |
| Inner moons (4) | |
| Galilean moons (4) | |
| Themisto group (1) | |
| Himalia group (9) | |
| Carpo group (2) |
|
| Valetudo group (1) |
|
| Ananke group (26) | |
| Carme group (30) |
|
| Pasiphaë group (18) |
|
| Related page | |
