Taygete (moon)

Taygete, also known as , is a little retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter.

Discovery and Naming

It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi led by Scott S. Sheppard, in 2000, and given the temporary designation .
It was named in October 2002 after Taygete, one of the Pleiades, daughter of the Titan Atlas and mother of Lacedaemon by Zeus.

Orbit

Taygete orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 22,546,240 km in 691,62 days, at an inclination of 165° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.248.
It belongs to the Carme group, made up a tightly of irregular retrograde moons orbiting Jupiter at a distance ranging between 22.7–23.5 million km, at an inclination of about 165°, and eccentricities between 0.24 and 0.28.

Physical characteristics

Taygetes' estimated diameter is 5 kilometers, assuming an albedo of 4%.
Like the other members of the Carme group, it is light red in color, similar to D-type asteroids.

Origin

Taygete probably did not form near Jupiter but was captured by Jupiter later. Much like the other members of the Carme group, which have similar orbits, Taygete is likely to be the remnant of a broken, captured heliocentric asteroid.