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An amateur astronomer has discovered a new moon orbiting Jupiter, the first time a citizen scientist has done so.
Amateur starwatcher Kai Ly examined data collected in February 2003 taken by researchers at the University of Hawaii and found a new member of the Carme Group, a group of 22 other small moons that orbit the gas giant in the opposite direction of its rotation.
The new moon, which has the provisional name EJc0061 and brings the total number of moons to 80 (so far), is likely a coin that broke the moon of Jupiter Carmel and is part of the Carmelite group, a collection of 22 other moons.
Nonetheless, it was a major discovery that Ly described as a “summer pastime before going back to school”.
“I am proud to say that this is the first planetary moon discovered by an amateur astronomer! Ly said in an interview with Sky and Telescope.
The images of EJc0061 have not yet been made public.
An amateur astronomer has discovered a new moon orbiting Jupiter, known as EJc0061. In the photo, two of Jupiter’s two moons, Ganymede and Europe, cast shadows on the planet
Carme (pictured) is the largest of the Carme group, with a radius of 14 miles, but the width of EJc0061 is not yet clear.
Images taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) in February 2003 highlighted the glow of the moons, caused by a phenomenon called opposition, when the sun and the planet (in this case, Jupiter), are in opposition to the sky from the Earth, according to Space.com.
The amateur astronomer also used another telescope to establish the 22-day arc of EJc0061, which confirmed that it was related to the gravity of Jupiter, and therefore probably to a moon.
Unlike the 79 other known moons of Jupiter, such as Ganymede and Europe, the Carmelite group orbits the planet opposite to its rotation.
From top to bottom (Io, Europe, Ganymede and Callisto), a group known as the Galilean moons
The Galilean moons were discovered by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in January 1610. Further away are the Carmelite moons, also known as the retrograde group
“Their orbits are also eccentric (elliptical rather than circular) and very tilted relative to Jupiter’s equatorial plane,” NASA wrote on its website.
In 2020, Ly recovered four “lost” Jovian mons, a group of 23 moons. The largest of the moons of Jupiter, Io, Europe, Ganymede and Callisto, are known as the Galilean moons, having been discovered by the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in January 1610.
“They are all very similar in color – light red – with the exception of Kalyke, who is considerably redder than the others. All of these features support the idea that the Carme satellites started out as a captured asteroid, rather than part of the original Jupiter system. None of Carme’s limbs are massive enough to hoist themselves into a sphere, so they are probably all irregular in shape. ‘
Carme is the largest of the Carme group, with a radius of 14 miles, but the width of EJc0061 is not yet clear.
It is likely that Carme was a D-type asteroid that crashed and shattered into countless pieces.
In 2018, researchers confirmed the presence of 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, including one described as a “strange ball”.
A study published in September 2020 by researchers at the University of British Columbia suggested that the gas giant may actually have as many as 600 moons, with the vast majority still waiting to be discovered.
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