Dia , also known as Jupiter LIII, is a prograde

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 ...

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-thousand ...

. Provisionally known as S/2000 J 11, it received its name on March 7, 2015.CBET (Central Bureau Electronic Telegram) 4075: 20150307: Satellites of Jupiter, March 7, 2015 It is named after Dia, daughter of Deioneus (or Eioneus), wife of

Ixion In Greek mythology, Ixion ( ; el, Ἰξίων, ''gen''.: Ἰξίονος means 'strong native') was king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly. Family Ixion was the son of Ares, or Leonteus, or Antion and Perimele, or the not ...

. According to Homer, she was seduced by Zeus in stallion form;

Pirithous Pirithous (; grc-gre, Πειρίθοος or , derived from ; also transliterated as Perithous), in Greek mythology, was the King of the Lapiths of Larissa in Thessaly, as well as best friend to Theseus. Biography Pirithous was a son of ...

was the issue. The satellite is one of several known small bodies in the Himalia group. Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D. C.
''An abundant population of small irregular satellites around Jupiter''
, ''Nature'', 423 (May 2003), pp. 261–263 Dia is thought to be about 4 kilometres in diameter.Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D. C.; Porco, C.
''Jupiter's outer satellites and Trojans''
, in ''Jupiter: The planet, satellites and magnetosphere,'' edited by Fran Bagenal, Timothy E. Dowling, William B. McKinnon, Cambridge Planetary Science, Vol. 1, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, , 2004, pp. 263-280 It orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 12 million km in 274 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 Ea ...

of 28° (to Jupiter's equator), and with an eccentricity of 0.21.

Observational history

Dia 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 in 2000 with an observation arc of 26 days. Initial observations were not followed up, and Dia was not observed for more than a decade after 2000. This apparent disappearance led some astronomers to consider the moon lost. One theory was that it had crashed into Himalia, creating a faint ring around Jupiter."Lunar marriage may have given Jupiter a ring"
''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

'', March 20, 2010, p. 16. However, it was finally recovered in observations made in 2010 and 2011.

References

External links

Natural Satellites Ephemeris Service
Minor Planet Center
Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters
NASA JPL

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dia Himalia 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 20001205 Moons with a prograde orbit