Pasithee (moon)

A picture of Pasithee as seen in Celestia

Pasithee or Jupiter XXXVIII, is a non-spherical moon of Jupiter. It was found by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaii led by Scott S. Sheppard in 2001, and given the designation S/2001 J 6.^[1]^[2]

Pasithee is about 2 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 23,307,000 km in 726.933 days, at an inclination of 166° to the ecliptic (164° to Jupiter's equator), with an orbital eccentricity of 0.3289.

It was named in August 2003 after Pasithee, one of the Charites, goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility, daughters of Zeus (Jupiter) by Eurynome.^[3] Pasithee, better known as Aglaea, is the spouse of Hypnos (Sleep) and presides to hallucinations and hallucinogens.

It belongs to the Carme group, made up of non-spherical retrograde moons orbiting Jupiter at a distance ranging between 23,000,000 and 24,000,000 km and at an inclination of about 165°.

References

↑ IAUC 7900: Satellites of Jupiter 2002 May 16 (discovery)
↑ MPEC 2002-J54: Eleven New Satellites of Jupiter 2002 May 15 (discovery and ephemeris)
↑ IAUC 8177: Satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus 2003 August 8 (naming the moon)

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[1] IAUC 7900: Satellites of Jupiter 2002 May 16 (discovery)

[2] MPEC 2002-J54: Eleven New Satellites of Jupiter 2002 May 15 (discovery and ephemeris)

[3] IAUC 8177: Satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus 2003 August 8 (naming the moon)

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