Moons of Jupiter Codexery

Thebe (moon)

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The moon is irregularly shaped and reddish in colour.[1] Among Jupiter's moons, Thebe ranks as the fourth in terms of its orbital distance from the planet.[2] Thebe is the second-biggest moon among Jupiter's inner satellites, and its orbital path is situated at the outer boundary of the Thebe gossamer ring.[1]

Key facts and history

It was initially given the provisional designation S/1979 J 2.[3] Thebe orbits Jupiter at a distance of about 222,000 km.[4] The largest crater, Zethus, has a diameter of about 40 km.[5] Thebe maintains a synchronous rotation with its orbit, resulting in the same hemisphere perpetually facing Jupiter.[6]

On Thebe's surface, one finds substantial craters and tall mountains, with some of these features being as large as the moon itself.[5]

What the cited sources add

The minimum bulk density for Thebe is 1.0 g/cm³, with a more probable value being around 1.4 g/cm³.[7] The leading side of Thebe reflects 1.3 times more light than the trailing side.[8] This brightness difference likely results from more numerous and faster impacts on the leading hemisphere, which expose brighter subsurface material.[9]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burns Simonelli et al. 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Synnott 1980; IAUC 3872 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Synnott 1980; IAUC 3470; IAUC 3872; "Thebe - NASA Science", 2017-11-30; Blunck 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cooper Murray et al. 2006; Burns Simonelli et al. 2004; Burns Simonelli et al. 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thomas Burns et al. 1998 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burns Simonelli et al. 2004; Burns Simonelli et al. 2004; Burns Simonelli et al. 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brunton Batygin 2025 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Simonelli Rossier et al. 2000 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Thebe (moon)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Simonelli Rossier et al. 2000; Burns Simonelli et al. 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Thebe (moon) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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