Discovery of Megaclite

Megaclite is a small irregular moon of Jupiter, about five kilometres across, discovered in November 2000 by a team led by Scott Sheppard at the University of Hawaii using telescopes on Mauna Kea. It moves on a distant and highly inclined orbit in the retrograde direction, opposite to Jupiter's rotation, and belongs to the Pasiphae group, a family of moons which may be fragments of one captured body. Its provisional designation was replaced by its permanent name in 2002. It is named after a figure of Greek mythology who was loved by Zeus, in keeping with the tradition of naming Jupiter's moons after the god's lovers and descendants.

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