12th Largest Moon of Jupiter - Sinope (62th Moon outwards from Jupiter)

Sinope is a retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter and was the outermost known moon of Jupiter until the discovery of Megaclite in 2000. The most distant moon of Jupiter now known is S/2003 J2.

Sinope is the 12th largest moon of Jupiter and 74th largest moon in the Solar System currently known.

Discovery

Sinope was discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson at Lick Observatory on July 21, 1914.

Naming

Sinope the moon is named after Sinope of Greek mythology.

In Greek Mythology, Sinope was one of the daughters of Asopus and thought to be an eponym of the city Sinope on the Black Sea.

According to Corinna and Diodorus Siculus, Sinope was seized by the god Apollo and carried over to the place where later stood the city honouring her name. Diodorus adds that she bore to Apollo a son named Syrus, supposedly afterwards king of the Syrians, who were named after him.

However, the Argonautica and Valerius Flaccus relate that Sinope was abducted to the site by Zeus, who, in his passion, swore to fulfil her dearest wish. Sinope declared she wished to remain a virgin. Sinope later tricked Apollo and the river Halys in the same fashion and remained a virgin all her life.

Stats

Diameter (mean): 38 km

Semi-major axis: 24,057,865 km

Orbital Period: -762.33 day

Orbit

Sinope orbits Jupiter on a high eccentricity and high inclination retrograde orbit. The orbital elements are as of January 2000. They are continuously changing due to solar and planetary perturbations.

It is often believed to belong to the Pasiphaë group. However, given its mean inclination and different colour, Sinope could be also an independent object, captured independently, unrelated to the collision and break-up at the origin of the group.

Sinope is also known to be in a secular resonance with Jupiter, similar to Pasiphae. However, Sinope can drop out of this resonance and has periods of both resonant and non resonant behaviour.

Physical characteristics

Sinope has an estimated diameter of 38 km (assuming an albedo of 0.04). The satellite is red, unlike Pasiphae which is grey.

Its infrared spectrum is similar to D-type asteroids and also different from Pasiphae. These dissimilarities of the physical parameters suggest a different origin from the core members of the group.