Lysithea (moon)

Lysithea was discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson in 1938 at Mount Wilson Observatory Lysithea did not receive its present name until 1975; before then, it was simply known as ''''''. It was sometimes called "Demeter" from 1955 to 1975. ==Orbit==

Lysithea orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 11,700,710 km km in 258,57 days, at an inclination of about 27° to the ecliptic, in a prograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.148. Its orbit is continuously changing due to solar and planetary perturbations. Lysithea belongs to the Himalia group, a prograde group of moons orbiting between 11 and 13 Gm from Jupiter at an inclinations between 27 and 30°, and eccentricities between 0.11 and 0.24. ==Physical characteristics==

Lysithea has a of diameter of about 42 kilometers, with a measured albedo of about 3,6%. The rotation period is approximately 12 hours and 45,6 min. (WISE) spacecraft in 2014 == Origin ==

Lysithea probably did not form near Jupiter but was captured by Jupiter later.Like the other members of the Himalia group, which have similar orbits, Lysithea is probably the remnant of a broken, captured heliocentric asteroid. ==See also==