Mneme (moon)

Mneme ( /ˈniːmiː/ nee-mee; Greek: Μνήμη), also known as Jupiter XL, is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii led by Scott S. Sheppard, et al. in 2003, and was provisionally designated S/2003 J 21.^[1][2]

Mneme is about 2 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 21,427 Mm in 640.769 days, at an inclination of 149° to the ecliptic (148° to Jupiter's equator) with an eccentricity of 0.2214.

It was named in March 2005 after Mneme, one of the three original Muses.^[3] She is sometimes confused with Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses (the three or the nine, depending on the author) by Zeus (Jupiter).

Mneme belongs to the Ananke group, retrograde irregular moons which orbit Jupiter between 19.3 and 22.7 Gm, at inclinations of roughly 150°.

References

1. ^ IAUC 8138: S/2003 J 21 2003 May 30 (discovery)
2. ^ MPEC 2003-K45: S/2003 J 21 2003 May 29 (discovery and ephemeris)
3. ^ IAUC 8502: Satellites of Jupiter 2005 March 30 (naming the moon)