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| Carme group | |
|---|---|
| Name | Carme group |
| Category | Irregular satellites |
| Parent | Jupiter |
| Semi-major axis km | 22–24e6 |
| Eccentricity | 0.2–0.3 |
| Inclination deg | ~165 |
Carme group
The Carme group is a dynamical family of retrograde irregular satellites orbiting Jupiter that share similar orbital elements and spectral characteristics. Members are small, distant moons photographed and tracked by observatories such as Palomar Observatory, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope and Galileo (spacecraft), and studied by teams from institutions including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, European Space Agency, and Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. The group’s study intersects research by astronomers affiliated with projects like the Mount Lemmon Survey, Spacewatch, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
The group consists of retrograde satellites with semi-major axes roughly between 22 and 24 million kilometres, eccentricities near 0.2–0.3, and inclinations clustered around 165 degrees relative to the ecliptic. Observational programs at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Mauna Kea Observatory, and La Silla Observatory have catalogued many members identified by surveys from teams at the University of Arizona, University of Hawaii, and California Institute of Technology. Studies published in journals such as Nature, Astronomy & Astrophysics, and The Astronomical Journal compare their dynamical clustering to other Jovian groups like the Ananke group and Himalia group.
Early discoveries were made with photographic plates at facilities including Mount Wilson Observatory and cameras on the Palomar Mountain Schmidt telescope; later finds used CCDs and automated pipelines at Spacewatch and the Catalina Sky Survey. The eponymous member was named under conventions administered by the International Astronomical Union, following mythological naming schemes derived from Greek mythology and coordinated by committees within the International Astronomical Union Commission 20. Individual names (drawn from characters associated with Jupiter (mythology)) were proposed by discoverers at institutions like the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and approved during IAU plenary sessions attended by representatives from agencies including NASA and Roscosmos.
Members have retrograde orbital motion with inclinations near 165°, semi-major axes concentrated between ~22–24×10^6 km, and moderate eccentricities. Long-term integrations performed by groups at Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University use N-body codes like those developed at Cornell University and numerical frameworks reported by researchers at NASA Ames Research Center to assess stability and resonances. Comparisons to resonant behaviors such as Kozai cycles and secular perturbations cite cross-influences from Saturn, Uranus, and the Sun, and leverage software originally created at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.
Photometry from instruments on the Very Large Telescope, the Subaru Telescope, and the Keck Observatory indicates predominantly D-type or C-type spectral slopes in the visible and near-infrared, implying dark, red surfaces similar to some Trojan asteroids and outer main-belt objects. Spectroscopic campaigns by teams at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, and Caltech detect features suggestive of silicates, organics, and possible hydrated minerals, comparing results to samples analyzed by missions like Hayabusa, OSIRIS-REx, and Dawn. Size estimates from thermal modeling conducted by researchers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and Brown University place primary members at tens of kilometres and smaller fragments at a few kilometres.
Leading hypotheses attribute the group to the collisional fragmentation of a progenitor captured by Jupiter’s gravity during the early Solar System, as modeled in simulations by teams at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Cambridge. Capture scenarios include gas drag within a circumplanetary nebula discussed by theorists at University of Cambridge and University of California, Santa Cruz, and three-body interactions explored by researchers at University of Toronto and University of Colorado Boulder. Comparative analyses draw on formation models from studies of the Kuiper belt, Scattered disc, and capture processes referenced in work by the International Space Science Institute and groups at Observatoire de Paris.
Well-known members were discovered across decades by surveys from the Palomar Observatory and Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope teams; principal objects include the namesake discovered in the mid-20th century and numerous smaller satellites identified in the 21st century by programs at Lowell Observatory, University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, and the University of Notre Dame. Cataloguing and numbering followed procedures used by the Minor Planet Center and are included in datasets maintained by the NASA Planetary Data System and curated at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum archives. Follow-up astrometry by observatories like Yerkes Observatory, Siding Spring Observatory, and the European Southern Observatory refined orbital elements.
Observational history spans photographic epochs at Mount Wilson Observatory through digital-era surveys at Pan-STARRS, LINEAR, and the Zwicky Transient Facility, with space-based contributions from the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope for high-resolution photometry and spectroscopy. Dynamical and collisional models originate in publications by research groups at California Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, and Pennsylvania State University and are presented at conferences organized by the American Astronomical Society, Division for Planetary Sciences, and the European Planetary Science Congress. Ongoing work engages instrument teams at NOIRLab, Arecibo Observatory (historical), and the International Astronomical Union working groups to update classifications and probe links to small-body populations such as the Jupiter Trojans, Centaurs, and the Kuiper belt.
Category:Jupiter satellites