Amalthea - David Darling Artist's illustration of Amalthea orbiting Jupiter. But what is known about Amalthea is that it is an irregularly shaped celestial body marked by large impact craters, hills, and valleys, and it contributes to Jupiters faint outer Gossamer Rings. Because spacecraft had to transmit data back to Earth via its low-gain antenna, less information was returned from the mission. Astronomer Camille Flammarion suggested the name Amalthea after the Greek mythological figure. Amalthea orbital period, i.e. You can decline to give a name which if that is the case, the comment will be attributed to a random star. By the Numbers. A characteristic of deep absorption was detected at 3 micrometers in the spectra of the back of Amalthea, which corresponds to those of non-ice Callisto and can be attributed to hydrated minerals. The Sun illuminates the surface from the left in the top left image and from the right in the bottom left image. In 2002, only one moon, Archy, was discovered. Amalthea is made of ice and debris very porous. Amalthea is about the size of a county or small state, and is just 135 x 75 km (84 x 47 miles) in size. In fact, Amalthea is the By Stefanie Waldek last updated 16 May 2022 The mysterious, irregularly shaped Amalthea is one of Jupiter's five inner moons. This is the first satellite of Jupiter discovered since the Galilean moons in 1610. The Sun would disappear behind Jupiter's bulk for an hour and a half each revolution, and Amalthea's short rotation period gives it just under six hours of daylight. Amalthea has a dark, reddish surface marked by impact craters. (91 centimeter) refractory telescope. They are Lyctos Facula and Ida Facula, with width reaching up to 25km. new images reveal for the first time that Ida is actually a Amalthea is irregularly shaped, with dimensions of 270 168 150 km; the long axis is oriented toward Jupiter. Amalthea's irregular shape and large size led in the past to a conclusion that it is a fairly strong, rigid body, where it was argued that a body composed of ices or other weak materials would have been pulled into a more spherical shape by its own gravity. [5] They also measured the visible and infrared spectra and surface temperature. sits inside a large crater named Gaea, has been greatly overexposed; Like all other inner moons of Jupiter it is tidally locked with the planet, the long axis pointing towards Jupiter at all times. 1Amalthea (moon) 1.1Comments (Dr. Submillimeter) 1.2RJH 1.3Cryptic C62 Amalthea (moon)[edit] I noticed that articles about the majority of large jovian satellites are unreferenced. [23][24][25][26], From Jupiter's "surface"or rather, from just above its cloudtopsAmalthea would appear very bright, shining with a magnitude of 4.7,[b] similar to that of Venus from Earth. in the top left image and from the right in the bottom left image. Amalthea /mli/ is a moon of Jupiter. The Galileo spacecraft has revealed some surface features, including impact craters, hills, and valleys. Amalthea casts a shadow on Jupiter in this image captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft. Astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard discovered Amalthea on September 9, 1892, while astronomer Camille Flammarion suggested the name Amalthea after the Greek mythological figure. Recent measurements of infrared spectra from the Subaru telescope suggest that the moon indeed contains hydrous minerals (or organic materials), indicating that it cannot have formed in its current position, since the hot primordial Jupiter would have melted it. disk), which indicates that parts of this NASA Administrator Bill Nelson laid out the path forward for early Artemis missions that will pave the way for lunar surface missions. Amalthea; Greyscale Galileo images of Amalthea, showing Pan crater (1999) Amalthea - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics The moons are shown in their correct relative sizes, with north approximately The Mean Orbit Velocity (M.O.V.) of relatively bright material can be seen elsewhere on Amalthea's As a small moon, the composition and surface features of Amalthea are unknown. Amalthea rotates synchronously while making observations from the Lick Observatory with a 36 inch Amalthea was famous as she nursed a newborn Jupiter. The surface of Amalthea is very red, its reflectivity increases with a wavelength from green to infrared. The name was initially suggested by Camille Flammarion. be resolved in these images, making them among the Amalthea is made of ice and debris very porous. This unusual material, which most satellites of Jupiter, Amalthea is in a synchronous rotation, with the Best images yet of Thebe, Amalthea and Metis Because Amalthea is in synchronous rotation, Jupiter would not appear to move, and would not be visible from one side of Amalthea. Every Moon in Our Solar System | Moon Ranking - Popular Mechanics Hubble observations of Europa have revealed the presence of persistent water vapor but, mysteriously, only in one hemisphere. These The period of revolution of Amalthea is 12 days. Beside it are Thebe (left) and Metis (right). Amalthea's leading side, the side of the moon that 'leads' Since Amalthea is so close to its parent planet its orbit will eventually decay and it will fall into the planet. Barnard originally named the moon Jupiter V it was the fifth Jovian moon to be discovered, 282 years after Galileo first observed Io, Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede collectively known as the Galilean moons. The Sun would disappear behind Jupiter's bulk for an hour and a half each revolution, and Amalthea's short rotation period gives it just under six hours of daylight. The largest is named Pan, and it has a diameter of 55 miles (90 kilometers), which is massive in relation to Amaltheas size. The crater, Gaea, measuring 80 km, it is about twice as deep as Pan. This is called the "leading side" of the moon and is shown in the top two images. To the left of this second crater is a linear 'streak' It was discovered on September 9, 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard. in the bottom pair of images. highest-resolution images ever obtained of these small, irregularly VIPER is the first resource-mapping mission on the surface of another celestial body. from a high altitude at noon, washes out topographic features and The fourth image from the top emphasizes prominent 'spots' Amalthea is not to be confused with the asteroid (113) Amalthea. This is a topographic map of Amalthea. Amalthea is the largest of Jupiter's smaller moons. this moon's shape and the topography of its surface features. measures 100 kilometers across and is at least 8 kilometers deep. Amalthea is the fifth largest moon of Jupiter but it is MUCH smaller than the four Galilean moons. On the next and final orbit (just an hour before destruction), Galileo detected one more such moonlet. Astronomy Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. Amalthea has two mountains, and Mons Ida Mons Lyctas. Europa: A World of Ice, With Potential for Life Its volume is 2434264. Amalthea was found on September 9, 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard using the 36 inch (91 cm) telescope at Lick Observatory. Amalthea has several prominent bright spots, two of which are named. Amalthea's orbital period is only slightly longer than its parent planet's day (about 20% in this case), which means it would cross Jupiter's sky very slowly. The bottom Adrastea was discovered in July 1979 by the Voyager science team. of the brightest patch of surface material seen anywhere on these The total volume of Amalthea is 584,010.99 mi 3. It refers to the object's size, height, width and depth. It emphasizes Amalthea, Jupiter's Moon - Windows to the Universe The following year, eleven moons were discovered, bringing the total to 39, Hermippus, Eurydome, Sponde, Kale, Autonoe, Thyone, Pasithea, Euanthe, orthoclase, and Aitne Eupora. Amalthea is the setting of several works of science fiction, including stories by Arthur C. Clarke, James Blish and Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. To mark the 50th close pass, NASA teamed up with Google Arts & Culture to feature a selection of JunoCam images. This interpretation stretches the data as far as possible. On the next and final orbit (just an hour before destruction), Galileo detected one more such moonlet. Its craters are very large compared to the size of Amalthea. This latter geometry, similar to taking a picture from a high altitude at noon, washes out topographic features and emphasizes Amalthea's albedo (light/dark) patterns. [5] Bright patches of less red tint appear on the major slopes of Amalthea, but the nature of this color is currently unknown. These four images of Jupiter's moon, Amalthea, were taken by Galileo's solid state imaging system at various times between February and June 1997. an observation of the Jovian satellite Io (Amalthea and Io It was also the first moon of Jupiter to be discovered since The name was suggested by Camille Flammarion. Amalthea has a dark, reddish surface marked by impact craters. Such lighting geometries, similar to taking a picture from a high altitude the gas giant jupiter seen above the surface of jupiter's moon europa. Moore Boeck. April 24, 2000 These two images of Jupiter's small, irregularly shaped moon Amalthea, obtained by the camera onboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft in August 1999 (left) and November 1999 (right), form a "stereo pair" that helps scientists determine this moon's shape and the topography of its surface features. Visual magnitudes as seen from Jupiter m, Calculated from the known sizes and distances of the bodies, using the formula 2*arcsin(R. Isaac Asimov (1969) "Dance of the Satellites", "Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers", "A serendipitous observation of tiny rocks in Jupiter's orbit by Galileo", "Swiss Cheese Moon: Jovian Satellite Full of Holes", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amalthea_(moon)&oldid=1159310393, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 9 June 2023, at 15:05. of Jupiter, and is exposed to high dosages of energetic ions, protons and Amalthea was discovered on 9 September 1892, by Edward Emerson Barnard using the 36 inch (91 cm) refractor telescope at Lick Observatory. Usually, a moon's leading surface is the most cratered. Only two missions have visited Amalthea: Voyager and Galileo. Topographic Map of Amalthea Its surface features include large craters and ridges. emphasizes patterns of intrinsically bright or dark It was discovered in the year 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard. Amalthea All rights reserved. Amalthea In Depth. [4] Such appreciably nonzero values of inclination and eccentricity, though still small, are unusual for an inner satellite and can be explained by the influence of the innermost Galilean satellite, Io: in the past Amalthea has passed through several mean-motion resonances with Io that have excited its inclination and eccentricity (in a mean-motion resonance the ratio of orbital periods of two bodies is a rational number like m:n). Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. More Cool & Interesting Facts About Amalthea! The Next Full Moon is the Harvest Moon, the Fruit Moon, the Barley Moon, and the Corn Moon. oxygen and sodium diffusing away from Io. If you give an email address, you may receive an email notifying you when someone else has added a comment to the same page. The top two images show the moon Thebe. available. Scientists have completed the longest-ever study tracking temperatures in Jupiters upper atmosphere where its signature colorful striped clouds form. Galileo's discovery of the four [b], Science journalist Willy Ley suggested Amalthea as a base for observing Jupiter, because of its nearness to the planet, almost synchronous orbit, and small size making a landing easy.