Pasiphae is an outer moon of Jupiter, discovered on 27 January 1908 by the British astronomer Philibert Jacques Melotte at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. It orbits in the opposite direction to Jupiter's rotation, a retrograde motion, at a great distance from the planet, and is the largest member of the Pasiphae group of irregular moons, which probably formed from the break-up of a captured body. It is about sixty kilometers across. It was known by a numeral for decades and was given its present name in 1975, after Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos of Crete and mother of the Minotaur in Greek mythology.
Before and after
- 1908Founding of Cairo University
- 1908Identification of Takayasu's arteritis
- 9 January 1908Birth of Lev Landau
- 9 January 1908Birth of Simone de Beauvoir
- 27 January 1908Discovery of Pasiphae
- 9 March 1908Founding of Inter Milan
- 1 April 1908Birth of Abraham Maslow
- 5 April 1908Founding of Germany men's national association football team
- 5 April 1908Birth of Bette Davis
More in Universe & space
- 1774Founding of Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory
- 1839Founding of Harvard College Observatory
- 23 November 1843Discovery of 4P/Faye
- 28 June 1851Discovery of 6P/d'Arrest
- 6 November 1892Discovery of Comet Holmes
- 28 December 1904Discovery of 19P/Borrelly
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.