10th Largest Moon of Jupiter - Carme (46th Moon outwards from Jupiter)

Carme is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter. Carme is the second largest retrograde (after Pasiphaë) and third largest irregular satellite after Himalia, Elara and Pasiphaë.

Carme is the 10th largest moon of Jupiter and 67th largest moon in the Solar System currently known.

Discovery

Carme was discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson with the 100-inch Hooker telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California on 30th July 1938.

Naming

Carme did not receive its present name until 1975. Nicholson himself declined to propose names. Before then, it was simply known as Jupiter XI. It was sometimes called "Pan" between 1955 and 1975 (Pan is now the name of a satellite of Saturn).

Carme the moon is named after the mythological Carme, mother by Zeus of Britomartis, a Cretan goddess.

Carme, the Latinized form of Greek Karmê ("shearer"), was a female Cretan spirit who assisted the grain harvest of Demeter's Cretan predecessor. According to the Olympian mythology, she was the mother, by Zeus, of the virginal huntress Britomartis, also called Diktynna, whom she bore at Kaino.

Stats

Diameter (mean): 46 km
Semi-major axis: 23,197,992 km
Orbital Period: -721.82 days
Group: Carme group

Orbit

Carme gives its name to the Carme group, made up of irregular retrograde moons orbiting Jupiter at a distance ranging between 23 and 24 Gm and at an inclination of about 165°. Carme's orbital elements are as of January 2000 and they are continuously changing due to solar and planetary perturbations.

Carme is the largest member of the Carme group, a family of Jovian moons which have similar orbits and appearance and are therefore thought to have a common origin.

Formation

Carme was probably a D-type asteroid (possibly from the Hilda family or the Jupiter Trojans) that suffered a collision, which broke off a number of pieces, either before or after being captured by Jupiter's gravity. Those pieces became the other 16 moons in the Carme group.

Moons in Carme group all are very similar in color -- light red -- except for Kalyke, which is considerably redder than the others. All of these characteristics support the idea that the Carme moons began as a captured asteroid, rather than forming as part of the original Jupiter system.

Physical Characteristics

None of the Carme moons is massive enough to pull itself into a sphere, so they are probably all irregularly shaped.