Lysithea (moon): Difference between revisions

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'''Lysithea''' ''(lye-sith'-ee-ə'' or ''lə-sith'-ee-ə,'' {{IPA2|laɪˈsɪθiə, lɨˈsɪθiə}}; Greek ''Λυσιθέα)'' is a [[prograde]] [[irregular satellite|irregular]] [[natural satellite|satellite]] of [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]]. It was discovered by [[Seth Barnes Nicholson]] in [[1938]] at [[Mount Wilson Observatory]]<ref name="Nicholson 1938"/> and is named after the mythological [[Lysithea (mythology)|Lysithea]], daughter of [[Oceanus]] and one of [[Zeus]]' lovers.<ref name="IAUC 2846">{{cite journal| last=Marsden|first=B. G.|title=Satellites of Jupiter|journal=IAUC Circular |volume=2846|date=7 October 1974|url=http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/02800/02846.html}}</ref>

Lysithea didn't receive its present name until [[1975]]; before then, it was simply known as '''{{nowrap|Jupiter X}}'''. It was sometimes called "[[Demeter]]"<ref name="Gaposchkin">{{cite book| last=Payne-Gaposchkin|first=Cecilia|coauthors=Katherine Haramundanis|title=Introduction to Astronomy|year=1970|publisher=Prentice-Hall|___location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J.|isbn=0-134-78107-4}}</ref> from 1955 to 1975.

It belongs to the [[Himalia group]], five moons orbiting between 11 and 13 Gm from Jupiter at an inclination of about 28.3°.<ref name="Jacobson 2000"/> Its orbital elements are as of January 2000. They are continuously changing due to [[Solar]] and planetary perturbations.