A celestial speck that astronomers thought was a meteoroid is in fact
Jupiter’s 17th moon—its smallest, and the first found for 26 years.
University of Arizona astronomers used the 36-inch telescope at Kitt Peak to
track the object for a month last year. They estimate that the object orbits
Jupiter once every two years at an average distance of 24 million kilometres.
The new moon may measure only 5 kilometres across, and it won’t get a permanent
name and number unless researchers spot it re-emerging from the Sun’s glare in
September.
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from 51¶¯Âþ
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending 51¶¯Âþ articles
1
Mathematicians stunned by AI's biggest breakthrough in mathematics yet
2
Photos reveal unexpected details from the world's first atomic test
3
The Selfish Gene at 50: Why Dawkins’s evolution classic still holds up
4
How I used psychology to come back from the worst year of my life
5
The distant world that is our best hope of finding alien life
6
Putting CO2 into rocks and getting hydrogen out is climate double win
7
The ‘doomsday’ glacier’s giant ice shelf is about to break away
8
Epic dreaming is leaving people exhausted and distressed
9
This is the most underrated sci-fi film franchise of the 21st century
10
We may finally know why dinosaurs like T. rex evolved tiny arms



