Universe & space

Discovery of Hermippe

9 December 2001

Hermippe is a small irregular moon of Jupiter, only about four kilometres across, and a member of the Ananke group, a family of retrograde moons following similar orbits. These moons are thought to be fragments of an object that was captured by Jupiter and later shattered by a collision. Hermippe was discovered in a survey of the planet's outer moons made by astronomers at the University of Hawaii. It takes its name from Greek mythology, from a figure connected with Zeus, the Greek counterpart of Jupiter, and the final e marks its retrograde orbit.

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