Megaclite
Megaclite, also known as , is one of Jupiter's smallest and outermost natural satellites.
Discovery and Naming
It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2000, and given the temporary designation .It was named in October 2002 after Megaclite, mother by Zeus of Thebe and Locrus in Greek mythology. It was initially erroneously named Magaclite, which was corrected in November 2002. Despite this correction, some earlier research still referred to the moon as Magaclite.
Orbit
Megaclite orbits Jupiter on a high-eccentricity and high-inclination retrograde orbit. The orbital elements are continuously changing due to solar and planetary perturbations.It belongs to the Pasiphae group, a group of retrograde moons of Jupiter with semi-major axes spread over 22–25 million km, inclinations between 141° and 158°, and higher eccentricities between 0.22 and 0.44.
Physical characteristics
Megaclite's estimated diameter is 6 kilometers, assuming an albedo of 4%.While Pasiphae belongs to the grey color class, Megaclite falls under the light red color class, similarly to Callirrhoe and Sinope.
Origin
Megaclite probably did not form near Jupiter but was captured by Jupiter later. Megaclite is believed to be a fragment from a captured asteroid along with other Pasiphae group satellites.However, it falls into a different color class than Pasiphae and could therefore have been captured by Jupiter independently of the Pasiphae group.