Home > Amalthea (moon)
Amalthea
Galileo image of Almathea
|
| Discovery
|
| Discovered by
| E. Barnard
|
| Discovered in
| 1892
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| Orbital characteristics
|
| Mean radius
| 181,400 km
|
| Eccentricity
| 0.0031
|
| Revolution period
| 11h 57.4m
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| Inclination
| 0.388°
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| Is a satellite of
| Jupiter
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| Physical characteristics
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| Mean diameter
| 166.9 km
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| Surface area
| km2
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| Mass
| 7.43×1018 kg
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| Mean densityFor other meanings of density, see density (disambiguation Density (symbol: rho Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. The higher an object's density, the higher its mass per volume. The average density of an object equals its total mass div
| 1.8 g/cm3
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| Surface gravityThis article covers the physics of gravitation. See also gravity (disambiguation). Gravitation is the tendency of masses to move toward each other. The first mathematical formulation of the theory of gravitation was made by Sir Isaac Newton and proved ast
| 0.066 m/s2In physics, acceleration (symbol: a is defined as the rate of change (or time derivative) of velocity. It is thus a vector quantity with dimension length/ time˛. In SI units, this is metre/second˛. To accelerate an object is to change its velocity over a
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Surface Gravity
(Earth = 1)
| 0.00673
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| Rotation period
| 11h 57.4m
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| Axial tiltAxial tilt is an astronomical term regarding the inclination angle of a planet's rotation axis in relation to its orbital plane. It is also called obliquity . A planet whose rotation axis were perpendicular to the orbital plane would have an axial tilt of
| °
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| AlbedoNote: This article discusses the physical or planetological property of albedo. For other usage, see Albedo (disambiguation). The albedo is a measure of reflectivity of a surface or body. It is the ratio of electromagnetic radiation reflected to the amoun
| 0.05
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| Surface temp.Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of "hot" and "cold"; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. General description The formal properties of temperature are studied in thermodynamics.
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| min | mean | max
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| KThe kelvin (symbol: K is the SI unit of temperature, and is one of the seven SI base units. It is defined by two facts: zero kelvin is absolute zero (when molecular motion stops), and one kelvin is the fraction 1/273. 16 of the thermodynamic temperature o
| K
| K
|
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| Atmospheric pressureAtmospheric pressure is the pressure caused by the weight of air above any area in the Earth's atmosphere. Standard atmospheric pressure atm is discussed in the next section. Air masses are affected by the general atmospheric pressure within the mass, cre
| 0 kPa
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Amalthea (pronounced "am al THEE a") is the third of Jupiter's known moons. It was discovered on September 9 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard using the 36 inch (91 cm) refractor telescope at Lick Observatory. Amalthea was the last moon to be discovered by direct visual observation (as opposed to photographically), and was the first new moon of Jupiter to be discovered since Galileo Galilei discovered the Galilean moons in 1610. It is named after the nymph of Greek legend who nursed the infant Jupiter with goat's milk.
It is the largest of the inner group of jovian moons that bears its name.
The name "Amalthea" was not formally adopted by the IAU until 1975, although it had been in informal use for many decades earlier after its suggestion by Camille Flammarion. Before 1975 it was most commonly known simply by its Roman numeral designation as "Jupiter V".
Not to be confused with the asteroid 113 Amalthea.
