.gif)
Thebe (moon)
Encyclopedia
Thebe also known as , is the fourth of Jupiter's moons by distance from the planet
. It was discovered by Stephen P. Synnott
in images from the Voyager 1
space probe taken on March 5, 1979, while orbiting around Jupiter
. In 1983 it was officially named after the mythological nymph
Thebe (Greek mythology
).
Thebe orbits within the outer edge of the Thebe Gossamer Ring that is formed from dust ejected from its surface. Thebe is the second largest of the inner satellites of Jupiter. Thebe is irregularly shaped and reddish in colour, and is thought like Amalthea
to consist of porous water ice with unknown amounts of other materials. Its surface features include large craters and high mountains—some of them are comparable to the size of the moon itself.
Thebe was photographed in 1979 and 1980 by the Voyager 1 and 2
spacecraft, and later, in more detail, by the Galileo orbiter
in the 1990s.
in images from the Voyager 1
space probe taken on March 5, 1979, and was initially given the provisional designation . In 1983 it was officially named after the mythological nymph
Thebe who was a lover of Zeus
—the Greek equivalent of Jupiter.
After its discovery by Voyager 1, Thebe was photographed by Voyager 2
spaceprobe in 1980. However, before the Galileo spacecraft
arrived at Jupiter, knowledge about it was extremely limited. Galileo imaged almost all of the surface of Thebe and put constraints on its composition.
of 0.018, and an inclination
of 1.08° relative to the equator of Jupiter. These values are unusually high for an inner satellite
and can be explained by the past influence of the innermost Galilean satellite, Io
; in the past, several mean motion resonances
with Io
would have passed through Thebe's orbit as Io gradually receded from Jupiter, and these excited Thebe's orbit.
The orbit of Thebe lies near the outer edge of the Thebe Gossamer Ring, which is composed of the dust ejected from the satellite. After ejection the dust drifts in the direction of the planet under the action of Poynting-Robertson drag forming a ring inward of the moon.
is like that of Amalthea (around 0.86 g/cm³), its mass can be estimated at roughly 4.3 kg.
Similarly to all inner satellites of Jupiter, Thebe rotates synchronously
with its orbital motion, thus keeping one face always looking toward the planet. Its orientation is such that the long axis always points to Jupiter. At the surface points closest to and furthest from Jupiter, the surface is thought to be near the edge of the Roche lobe
, where Thebe's gravity is only slightly larger than the centrifugal force
. As a result, the escape velocity
in these two points is very small, thus allowing dust to escape easily after meteorite impacts, and ejecting it into the Thebe Gossamer Ring.
The surface of Thebe is dark and appears to be reddish in color. There is a substantial asymmetry between leading and trailing hemispheres
: the leading hemisphere is 1.3 times brighter than the trailing one. The asymmetry is probably caused by the higher velocity and frequency of impacts
on the leading hemisphere, which excavate a bright material (probably ice) from the interior of the moon. The surface of Thebe is heavily cratered and it appears that there are at least three or four impact crater
s that are very large, each being roughly comparable in size to Thebe itself. The largest (diameter about 40 km) crater is situated on the side that faces away from Jupiter, and is called Zethus (the only surface feature on Thebe to have received a name). There are several bright spots at the rim
of this crater.
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
. It was discovered by Stephen P. Synnott
Stephen P. Synnott
Stephen P. Synnott is an American astronomer Voyager scientist who discovered several moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.He discovered Metis, Puck, Larissa , Proteus, and Thebe.-References:...
in images from the Voyager 1
Voyager 1
The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA in 1977, to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for as of today , the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. At a distance of as of...
space probe taken on March 5, 1979, while orbiting around Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
. In 1983 it was officially named after the mythological nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
Thebe (Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
).
Thebe orbits within the outer edge of the Thebe Gossamer Ring that is formed from dust ejected from its surface. Thebe is the second largest of the inner satellites of Jupiter. Thebe is irregularly shaped and reddish in colour, and is thought like Amalthea
Amalthea (moon)
Amalthea is the third moon of Jupiter in order of distance from the planet. It was discovered on September 9, 1892, by Edward Emerson Barnard and named after Amalthea, a nymph in Greek mythology. It is also known as '....
to consist of porous water ice with unknown amounts of other materials. Its surface features include large craters and high mountains—some of them are comparable to the size of the moon itself.
Thebe was photographed in 1979 and 1980 by the Voyager 1 and 2
Voyager program
The Voyager program is a U.S program that launched two unmanned space missions, scientific probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment of the late 1970s...
spacecraft, and later, in more detail, by the Galileo orbiter
Galileo spacecraft
Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. Named after the astronomer and Renaissance pioneer Galileo Galilei, it was launched on October 18, 1989 by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission...
in the 1990s.
Discovery and observations
Thebe was discovered by Stephen P. SynnottStephen P. Synnott
Stephen P. Synnott is an American astronomer Voyager scientist who discovered several moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.He discovered Metis, Puck, Larissa , Proteus, and Thebe.-References:...
in images from the Voyager 1
Voyager 1
The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA in 1977, to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for as of today , the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. At a distance of as of...
space probe taken on March 5, 1979, and was initially given the provisional designation . In 1983 it was officially named after the mythological nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
Thebe who was a lover of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
—the Greek equivalent of Jupiter.
After its discovery by Voyager 1, Thebe was photographed by Voyager 2
Voyager 2
The Voyager 2 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space...
spaceprobe in 1980. However, before the Galileo spacecraft
Galileo spacecraft
Galileo was an unmanned spacecraft sent by NASA to study the planet Jupiter and its moons. Named after the astronomer and Renaissance pioneer Galileo Galilei, it was launched on October 18, 1989 by the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the STS-34 mission...
arrived at Jupiter, knowledge about it was extremely limited. Galileo imaged almost all of the surface of Thebe and put constraints on its composition.
Orbit
Thebe is the outermost of the inner Jovian moons, and orbits Jupiter at a distance of about 222,000 km (3.11 Jupiter radii). Its orbit has an eccentricityOrbital eccentricity
The orbital eccentricity of an astronomical body is the amount by which its orbit deviates from a perfect circle, where 0 is perfectly circular, and 1.0 is a parabola, and no longer a closed orbit...
of 0.018, and an inclination
Inclination
Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...
of 1.08° relative to the equator of Jupiter. These values are unusually high for an inner satellite
Inner satellite
In astronomy, an inner moon is a natural satellite following a prograde, low inclination orbit inwards of the large satellites of the parent planet. They are generally thought to have been formed in situ at the same time as the coalescence of the original planet...
and can be explained by the past influence of the innermost Galilean satellite, Io
Io (moon)
Io ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of , the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System. It was named after the mythological character of Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of the lovers of Zeus....
; in the past, several mean motion resonances
Orbital resonance
In celestial mechanics, an orbital resonance occurs when two orbiting bodies exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other, usually due to their orbital periods being related by a ratio of two small integers. Orbital resonances greatly enhance the mutual gravitational influence of...
with Io
Io (moon)
Io ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of , the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System. It was named after the mythological character of Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of the lovers of Zeus....
would have passed through Thebe's orbit as Io gradually receded from Jupiter, and these excited Thebe's orbit.
The orbit of Thebe lies near the outer edge of the Thebe Gossamer Ring, which is composed of the dust ejected from the satellite. After ejection the dust drifts in the direction of the planet under the action of Poynting-Robertson drag forming a ring inward of the moon.
Physical characteristics
Thebe is irregularly shaped, with the closest ellipsoidal approximation being 116×98×84 km. Its bulk density and mass are not known, but assuming that its mean densityDensity
The mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight...
is like that of Amalthea (around 0.86 g/cm³), its mass can be estimated at roughly 4.3 kg.
Similarly to all inner satellites of Jupiter, Thebe rotates synchronously
Synchronous rotation
In astronomy, synchronous rotation is a planetological term describing a body orbiting another, where the orbiting body takes as long to rotate on its axis as it does to make one orbit; and therefore always keeps the same hemisphere pointed at the body it is orbiting...
with its orbital motion, thus keeping one face always looking toward the planet. Its orientation is such that the long axis always points to Jupiter. At the surface points closest to and furthest from Jupiter, the surface is thought to be near the edge of the Roche lobe
Roche lobe
The Roche lobe is the region of space around a star in a binary system within which orbiting material is gravitationally bound to that star. If the star expands past its Roche lobe, then the material can escape the gravitational pull of the star. If the star is in a binary system then the material...
, where Thebe's gravity is only slightly larger than the centrifugal force
Centrifugal force
Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...
. As a result, the escape velocity
Escape velocity
In physics, escape velocity is the speed at which the kinetic energy plus the gravitational potential energy of an object is zero gravitational potential energy is negative since gravity is an attractive force and the potential is defined to be zero at infinity...
in these two points is very small, thus allowing dust to escape easily after meteorite impacts, and ejecting it into the Thebe Gossamer Ring.
The surface of Thebe is dark and appears to be reddish in color. There is a substantial asymmetry between leading and trailing hemispheres
Sphere
A sphere is a perfectly round geometrical object in three-dimensional space, such as the shape of a round ball. Like a circle in two dimensions, a perfect sphere is completely symmetrical around its center, with all points on the surface lying the same distance r from the center point...
: the leading hemisphere is 1.3 times brighter than the trailing one. The asymmetry is probably caused by the higher velocity and frequency of impacts
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
on the leading hemisphere, which excavate a bright material (probably ice) from the interior of the moon. The surface of Thebe is heavily cratered and it appears that there are at least three or four impact crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
s that are very large, each being roughly comparable in size to Thebe itself. The largest (diameter about 40 km) crater is situated on the side that faces away from Jupiter, and is called Zethus (the only surface feature on Thebe to have received a name). There are several bright spots at the rim
Rim (craters)
The rim of a crater is the part that extends above the height of the local surface, usually in a circular or elliptical pattern. In a more specific sense, the rim may refer to the circular or elliptical edge that represents the uppermost tip of this raised portion...
of this crater.