Praxidike , also known as Jupiter XXVII, 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 in 2000, and given the temporary designation S/2000 J 7.
It was named in August 2003 after Praxidike, the Greek goddess of punishment.
Orbit
Praxidike orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 20,824,000 km in 609.25 days, at an inclination of 144° to the ecliptic (143° to Jupiter's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.1840.
Praxidike belongs to the Ananke group, believed to be the remnants of a break-up of a captured heliocentric asteroid. With an estimated diameter of 7 km, Praxidike is the second largest member of the group after Ananke itself (assumed albedo of 0.04).
Characteristics
The satellite appears grey (colour indices B-V=0.77, R-V= 0.34), typical of C-type asteroids.
References
- Ephemeris IAU-MPC NSES
- Mean orbital parameters NASA JPL
External links
- David Jewitt pages
- Scott Sheppard pages
