This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jupiter Satellite Count Now At 60

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/jup2003.html

New Satellites of Jupiter Discovered in 2003
University of Hawaii

A work in progress: Most recent update April 13, 2003 

This page describes the discovery of 20 new satellites of Jupiter,
bringing the total of known Jupiter satellites to 60.

Discovery of the New Satellites 

The majority of the new satellites were first seen in early February
2003 by Scott S. Sheppard and David C. Jewitt from the Institute for
Astronomy, University of Hawaii along with Jan Kleyna of Cambridge
University. The satellites were detected using the world's two
largest digital cameras at the Subaru (8.3 meter diameter) and
Canada-France-Hawaii (3.6 meter diameter) telescopes atop Mauna Kea
in Hawaii. Both telescopes and their imaging cameras represent the
latest technology has to offer. Recoveries were performed at the
University of Hawaii 2.2 meter with help from Yanga Fernandez and
Henry Hsieh also from the University of Hawaii. Brian Marsden of the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics performed the orbit
fitting for the new satellites. 

The first 7 satellites were formally announced by the International
Astronomical Union on Circular No. 8087 on March 4, 2003 while the
eighth was announced on Circular No. 8088 on March 6, the 9th through
12th on Circular No. 8089 on March 7, and S/2003 J13 through J20 were
announced in early April. The satellites J1 to J19 appear to have
distant retrograde orbits (ie. their orbital rotation is opposite to
Jupiter's rotation) like the majority of the known irregular
satellites of Jupiter. The satellite S/2003 J20 appears to be a
prograde satellite dynamically distinct from any other known Jupiter
satellite. However these orbits are still preliminary and may change
as new observations are obtained.

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---