Helike (moon)

Helike or Jupiter XLV, is a moon of Jupiter. It was found by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2003, and given the designation S/2003 J 6.^[1][2][3]

Helike is about 4 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 20,540,000 km in 601.402 Earth days, at an inclination of 155° to the ecliptic (156° to Jupiter's equator), with an orbital eccentricity of 0.1375.

It was named in March 2005 after Helike, one of the nymphs that nurtured Zeus (Jupiter) in his infancy on Crete.^[4]

Helike belongs to the Ananke group, retrograde non-spherical moons which orbit Jupiter between 19,300,000 and 22,700,000 km, at inclinations of about 150°.

References

1. IAUC 8087: Satellites of Jupiter 2003 March 4 (discovery)
2. MPEC 2003-E11: S/2003 J 1, 2003 J 2, 2003 J 3, 2003 J 4, 2003 J 5, 2003 J 6, 2003 J 7 2003 March 4 (discovery and ephemeris)
3. MPEC 2003-E29: S/2003 J 9, 2003 J 10, 2003 J 11, 2003 J 12; S/2003 J 1, 2003 J 6 2003 April 3 (revised ephemeris)
4. IAUC 8502: Satellites of Jupiter 2005 March 30 (naming the moon)