Valetudo (moon)
Outer moon of Jupiter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Valetudo /væləˈtjuːdoʊ/, also known as Jupiter LXII and originally known as S/2016 J 2, is an irregular moon of Jupiter. It was discovered by Scott S. Sheppard and his team in data acquired by the 6.5-m Magellan-Baade telescope of the Las Campanas Observatory in 2016, but was not announced until 17 July 2018, via a Minor Planet Electronic Circular from the Minor Planet Center, which also reported the discovery of nine other of Jupiter's moons.[1] Besides data from Las Campanas, the original announcement also referred to data acquired through the 8.1-m Gemini North telescope of the Mauna Kea Observatories as well as the 4.0-m reflector of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.[5]
Precovery images of Valetudo taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on 28 February 2003 | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Scott S. Sheppard et al. |
| Discovery site | Las Campanas Obs. |
| Discovery date | 9 March 2016 |
| Designations | |
Designation | Jupiter LXII |
| Pronunciation | /væləˈtjuːdoʊ/ |
Named after | Roman name for the Greek goddess, Hygieia |
| S/2016 J 2 | |
| Adjectives | Valetudian |
| Orbital characteristics[2] | |
| Epoch 17 December 2020 (JD 2459200.5) | |
| Observation arc | 19 years 2022-09-02 (last obs)[3] |
| Earliest precovery date | 26 February 2003 |
| 0.1257974 AU (18,819,020 km) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.2018315 |
| +1.44 yr (+527.41 d) | |
| 201.41718° | |
| 0° 40m 57.274s / day | |
| Inclination | 32.03294° (to the ecliptic) |
| 235.45916° | |
| 122.37546° | |
| Satellite of | Jupiter |
| Group | (own group) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 1 km[4] | |
| 24.0[4] | |
| 17.0 (54 obs)[3] | |
Characteristics
Valetudo has a diameter of about 1 km (0.6 mi) and orbits Jupiter at a distance of about 19 million kilometres (12 million miles). Its orbital inclination is 34 degrees, and its orbital eccentricity is 0.222.[4] It has a prograde orbit which takes almost a year and a half to complete, but it crosses paths with several other moons that have retrograde orbits and may in the future collide with them.[7]
Name
The moon was provisionally designated as S/2016 J 2 until it received its name in 2018. Sheppard proposed the name Valetudo, after the Roman goddess of health and hygiene (a Latin translation of Greek Hygieia 'Health') and a great-granddaughter of the god Jupiter. The name also alluded to Sheppard's girlfriend, whom he joked about being cleanly.[8] The name conforms with the naming conventions for Jupiter moons set out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), according to which a name ending in -o indicates a high inclination.[9] The name was approved by the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature on 3 October 2018.[10]