ANANKE - MOON OF JUPITER

Ananke is named for a consort of Zeus and the mother of Adrastea. She was the embodiment of fate. Although discovered in 1951 (by Seth Nicholson), very little is known of this moon.

Orbit

Ananke orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 21.2 million kilometres. Ananke's orbit is retrograde, that is, it orbits in the opposite direction to Jupiter's rotation. At such a large distance from Jupiter, Ananke takes 631 days to complete one orbit. The length of the day on Ananke, that is, its axial rotation period, is unknown.

Ananke's orbit is eccentric (0.169), and inclined at 147o to Jupiter's equatorial plane.

Physical properties

Ananke is about 30 kilometres across. Its density is only 2700 kg m-3, similar to the asteroids. When considering Ananke's density, size, eccentric and inclined orbit, it seems likely that Ananke is a captured asteroid.

Interior

The interior of Ananke is unknown.

Magnetic field

No magnetic field has been detected.

Atmosphere

No atmosphere has been detected.

Surface

Nothing is known about the surface of Ananke.