Cyllene , also known as , is a

natural satellite A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

. It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

led by

Scott S. Sheppard Scott Sander Sheppard (born 1977) is an American astronomer and a discoverer of numerous moons, comets and minor planets in the outer Solar System. He is an astronomer in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Scie ...

in 2003, receiving the temporary designation . Cyllene is about 2 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of (23.4 million km) 23,396,000 km in 731.099 days (2.00 earth years), at an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 140.149° to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agains ...

(139.543° to Jupiter's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

of 0.4116. It was named in March 2005 after Cyllene, a naiad (stream

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label= Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...

) or

oread In Greek mythology, an Oread (; grc, Ὀρειάς, Oreiás, stem grc, Ὀρειάδ-, Oreiád-, label=none, la, Oreas/Oread-, from grc, ὄρος, , mountain, label=none; french: Oréade) or Orestiad (; grc, Ὀρεστιάδες, Orest ...

(mountain nymph) associated with

Mount Cyllene Mount Kyllini or Mount Cyllene (; grc, Κυλλήνη , ; sometimes , ), is a mountain on the Peloponnese in Greece famous for its association with the god Hermes. It rises to above sea level, making it the second highest point on the peninsul ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

.IAUC 8502: ''Satellites of Jupiter''
2005 March (naming the moon) She was a daughter of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

(Jupiter). It belongs to the

Pasiphae group The Pasiphae group is a group of retrograde irregular satellites of Jupiter that follow similar orbits to Pasiphae and are thought to have a common origin. Their semi-major axes (distances from Jupiter) range between 22.8 and 24.1 million km (th ...

, irregular retrograde moons orbiting Jupiter at distances ranging between 22.8 and 24.1 Gm, and with inclinations ranging between 144.5° and 158.3°.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyllene (Moon) Pasiphae group Moons of Jupiter Irregular satellites Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard Astronomical objects discovered in 2003 Moons with a retrograde orbit