Carpo (moon)

Carpo
Carpo imaged by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on 25 February 2003
Discovery[1][2]
Discovered byScott S. Sheppard
Discovery siteMauna Kea Obs.
Discovery date26 February 2003
Designations
Designation
Jupiter XLVI
Pronunciation/ˈkɑːrpoʊ/
Named after
Καρπώ Karpō
S/2003 J 20
AdjectivesCarpoan /kɑːrˈpoʊən/ or Carpoian /kɑːrˈpoʊ.iən/
Orbital characteristics[3]
Epoch 1 January 2000 (JD 2451545.0)
Observation arc15.25 yr (5,571 d)[4]
Earliest precovery date9 February 2003[4]
Satellite ofJupiter
GroupCarpo
Proper orbital elements
17,042,300 km (0.113921 AU) AU
0.416
54.0° (to ecliptic)
288.174132 deg / yr
1.24924 yr
(456.287 d)
Precession of perihelion
N/A arcsec / yr
Precession of the ascending node
11546.8914 arcsec / yr
Physical characteristics
≈3 km[5]
Albedo0.04 (assumed)[5]
23.0[5]
16.2[4]

Carpo /ˈkɑːrpoʊ/, also Jupiter XLVI, is a small outer natural satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2003, and was provisionally designated as S/2003 J 20[6][7] until it received its name in early 2005.[8] It was named in March 2005 after Carpo, one of the Horae, and a daughter of Zeus (Jupiter).[2]

Carpo has a diameter of about 3 km (1.9 mi) for an absolute magnitude of 16.2.[5][4] Like all irregular moons of Jupiter, Carpo's orbit is highly variable over time due to gravitational perturbations by the Sun and other planets.[9] On average, Carpo's orbit has a semi-major axis of 17.0 million km (10.6 million mi), a high eccentricity of 0.42, and a very high inclination of 54° with respect to the ecliptic.[5]

Carpo was long thought to be an outlier prograde satellite not part of any group, until S/2018 J 4 was found.[5] The orbital inclination of satellites such as Carpo is limited by the Kozai effect, which induces a periodic exchange between the inclination and eccentricity of the orbit. If the inclination is large enough, the eccentricity can in turn grow so large that the periapsis of the satellite (called the perijove in the case of moons of Jupiter) would be in the immediate vicinity of the Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto). The satellite would eventually collide with one of these, or a close encounter would eject it altogether from the Jovian system. Due to the Kozai effect, Carpo's argument of periapsis never precesses and instead librates about 90° with respect to the ecliptic, which keeps Carpo's perijove always above Jupiter and its apojove below (see orbit animation below).[9]

Animation of Carpo's orbit from 2000 to 2100
Polar view
Equatorial view
   Jupiter ·   Carpo ·   Callisto
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference jplsats-disc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Gazetteer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference jplsats-elem was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference MPC-NatSats was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference SheppardMoons was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Daniel W. E. Green (30 April 2003). "IAUC 8125: S/2003 J 19 and S/2003 J 20". International Astronomical Union. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  7. ^ MPEC 2003-G67: S/2003 J 20 2003 April (discovery and ephemeris)
  8. ^ Daniel W. E. Green (30 March 2005). "IAUC 8502: Satellites of Jupiter". International Astronomical Union.
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Brozovic2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).