Laomedeia is a prograde irregular satellite of Neptune.
Laomedeia is the 12th largest satellite of Neptune and 71th largest moon in the Solar System currently known.
Discovery
Laomedeia was discovered 13 August 2002 by Matthew J. Holman, John J. Kavelaars, Tommy Grav, Wesley C. Fraser and Dan Milisavljevic using images taken by the 4.0-m Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile and the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. Multiple images were digitally combined until stars appeared as streaks, while the moons appeared as points of light.
Laomedeia is so distant and so small it is about 100 million times fainter than can be seen with the unaided eye. Laomedeia was missed by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989 because it is so faint and distant from Neptune.
Naming
The moon was given the temporary designation S/2002 N3.
Laomedeia the moon is named after one of the Nereids, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. Laomedeia was The Nereid "leader of the folk".
Orbit
Laomedeia is considered an irregular satellite because of its distant, eccentric orbit around Neptune. Like most irregular satellites of the giant planets in our outer solar system, Laomedeia most likely formed after a collision between a larger moon and a comet or an asteroid.
Physical characteristics
Very little is known about Laomedeia.
Laomedeia is about 42 kilometers in diameter (assuming an albedo of 0.04).
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