Sponde , also known as , is a

natural satellite A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...

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-thousandth t ...

. It 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 Scott Sander Sheppard (born 1977) is an American astronomer and a discoverer of numerous moons, comets and minor planets in the outer Solar System. He is an astronomer in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Scie ...

in 2001, and given the temporary designation .MPEC 2002-J54: ''Eleven New Satellites of Jupiter''
2002 May 15 (discovery and ephemeris) Sponde is about 2 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 24,253,000 km in 734.89 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 Eart ...

of 154° to the

ecliptic The ecliptic or ecliptic plane is the orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun. From the perspective of an observer on Earth, the Sun's movement around the celestial sphere over the course of a year traces out a path along the ecliptic agains ...

(156° to Jupiter's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an

eccentricity Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-Centre (geometry), center, in geometry * Eccentricity (g ...

of 0.443. It was named in August 2003 after one of the

Horae In Greek mythology the Horae () or Horai () or Hours ( grc-gre, Ὧραι, Hōrai, , "Seasons") were the goddesses of the seasons and the natural portions of time. Etymology The term ''horae'' comes from the Proto-Indo-European ("year"). F ...

(Hours), which presided over the seventh hour (libations poured after lunch).IAUC 8177: ''Satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus''
2003 August 8 (naming the moon) The Hours, goddesses of the time of day but also of the seasons, were daughters of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...

(Jupiter) and

Themis In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; grc, Θέμις, Themis, justice, law, custom) is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, fai ...

. It belongs to the Pasiphae group, irregular retrograde moons orbiting Jupiter at distances ranging between 22.8 and 24.1 Gm, and with

s ranging between 144.5° and 158.3°.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sponde (Moon) Pasiphae group Moons of Jupiter Irregular satellites Discoveries by Scott S. Sheppard Astronomical objects discovered in 2001 Moons with a retrograde orbit