Erinome, also known as , is a
retrograde irregular satellite
In astronomy, an irregular moon, irregular satellite or irregular natural satellite is a natural satellite following a distant, inclined, and often eccentric and retrograde orbit. They have been captured by their parent planet, unlike regular s ...
of
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 2000, and given the temporary designation .
IAUC 7555: ''Satellites of Jupiter''
2001 January 5 (discovery)
Erinome is about 3 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 22,986,000 km in 682.80 days, 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 164° 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 ...
(162° 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 0.2552.
It belongs to the Carme group
The Carme group is a group of retrograde irregular satellites of Jupiter that follow similar orbits to Carme and are thought to have a common origin.
Their semi-major axes (distances from Jupiter) range between 22.9 and 24.1 Gm, their orbit ...
, made up of irregular retrograde moons orbiting Jupiter at a distance ranging between 23 and 24 Gm and at an inclination of about 165°.
Name
Erinome was named in October 2002 after the mythological Erinoma
In Greek mythology, Erinoma () or Erinona () is a beautiful maiden who attracted the attention of both Zeus and Adonis, as well as the wrath of Hera and Aphrodite. Her story seems to be a local variant of Adonis's myth originating from the island ...
, a Cypriot woman said by the discovery group to be a "daughter of Celes, compelled by Venus to fall in love with Jupiter." (However, it was Jupiter whom Venus made fall in love with Erinoma, in order to ruin her.)
The final -a vowel of the name was changed to -e to accord with IAU naming conventions for retrograde moons.
The story is only known in Latin, and manuscripts have the name as ''Erinoma'', ''Erinona'' and ''Erittoma''. The original Greek name, and thus the stressed syllable in Latin, is unknown. It might be a late corruption of Eurynome
Eurynomê (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυνόμη, from , ''eurys'', "broad" and , ''nomos'', "pasture" or "law") is a name that refers to the following characters in Greek mythology:
*Eurynome, pre-Olympian queen and wife of Ophion
*Eurynome (Ocean ...
, in which case the stress would be on the third syllable (?). Since there is no moon named 'Eurynome' , this would not be ambiguous.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erinome (Moon)
Carme group
Moons of Jupiter
Irregular satellites
Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard
Discoveries by David C. Jewitt
Discoveries by Yanga R. Fernandez
Discoveries by Eugene A. Magnier
20001123
Moons with a retrograde orbit