S/1999 J1

Natural satellite of Jupiter

Discovered by Spacewatch astronomers Jim Scotti, Jeff Larsen, Tom Gehrels, Joe Montani and Spacewatch director Bob McMillan who took images of the object, previously designated asteroid 1999 UX18, during their Spacewatch shifts in October and early November 1999.

It is has not as yet been given an official designation

Physical Parameters

Diameter 5 kilometres (best guess)

Orbital Parameters

Mean Distance from Jupiter to be announced
Mean Sidereal Period to be announced
Eccentricity to be announced
Inclination to be announced
Opposition Magnitude (Average) to be announced

Astronomers with the Spacewatch project at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Massachusetts have discovered the first new moon of Jupiter in more than a quarter of a century.

Spacewatch astronomers Jim Scotti, Jeff Larsen, Tom Gehrels, Joe Montani and Spacewatch director Bob McMillan took images of the object, previously designated asteroid 1999 UX18, during their Spacewatch shifts in October and early November 1999.

MPC astronomers Gareth Williams and Tim Spahr, and MPC director Brian Marsden this week confirmed by orbital calculations that the object is not an asteroid orbiting the sun, but a previously unknown moon of Jupiter, the first found since 1974.

The newly found satellite is perhaps 3 miles across - the smallest moon ever found for any of the major planets, the discovers said. The moon, designated S/1999 J1, belongs to a subgroup of outer satellites that make complete, eccentric orbits around Jupiter at an average distance of 15 million miles every two years, the MPC astronomers calculate.

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