Metis

Metis

Moon· orbits Jupiter

Metis is a moon orbiting Jupiter.

Open in 3D viewSee Metis in the live, interactive 3D map

Key facts

Mass (est.)
3.75 × 10¹⁶ kg
0.00000051 Moon masses
Radius
21.5 km
1% of our Moon's radius
Surface gravity
0.00541 m/s²
0% of Earth's gravity
Orbit around Jupiter
7.1 hours
0.29 Earth days

Science

Physical

Mass (estimated)
3.75 × 10¹⁶ kg · 0.00000051 Moon masses
Estimated from its size and an assumed density (~0.9 g/cm3); the GM is not dynamically constrained, so this is not a measurement. Source: JPL SSD Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters (GM JUP365).
Radius
21.5 km · 1% of our Moon's radius
JPL SSD Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters (mean radius)
Surface gravity
0.00541 m/s² · 0% of Earth's gravity
Estimated from the estimated mass and radius
Escape velocity
15.2 m/s · 0% of Earth's escape velocity
Estimated from the estimated mass and radius

Orbit around Jupiter

Distance from Jupiter
128,000 km
From JPL orbital elements
Orbital period
7.07 hours
From JPL orbital elements
Eccentricity
0
From JPL orbital elements
Inclination to Jupiter's Laplace plane
0.00 °
From JPL orbital elements · The Laplace plane is the one a moon's orbit precesses about: close in it is the planet's equatorial plane, the plane of the rings, and further out it tilts toward the planet's own orbit.

Radiation & temperature

Insolation
0.0355 S⊕ · 4% of the sunlight Earth receives
Computed from the distance to the Sun (inverse-square; Earth's sunlight = 1), before any atmosphere.

Discovery & history

By
Voyager Science Team

Metis was discovered in 1979 by Voyager Science Team. Jupiter's moons are named after lovers, daughters and descendants of the god Jupiter (the Greek Zeus). Beyond its discovery and naming, little more about it has been individually recorded.

Images

Images from open archives · credit shown per image