Thebe
Moon· orbits Jupiter
Thebe is a moon orbiting Jupiter.
Open in 3D viewSee Thebe in the live, interactive 3D map
Key facts
Mass (est.)
4.52 × 10¹⁷ kg
0.00000615 Moon masses
Radius
49.3 km
3% of our Moon's radius
Surface gravity
0.0124 m/s²
0% of Earth's gravity
Orbit around Jupiter
16.3 hours
0.68 Earth days
Science
Physical
- Mass (estimated)
- 4.52 × 10¹⁷ kg · 0.00000615 Moon masses
- Estimated: the implied density (~0.9 g/cm3) is a standard assumed value, so the mass is effectively size-and-density based, not weighed. Source: JPL SSD Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters (GM JUP365).
- Radius
- 49.3 km · 3% of our Moon's radius
- JPL SSD Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters (mean radius)
- Surface gravity
- 0.0124 m/s² · 0% of Earth's gravity
- Estimated from the estimated mass and radius
- Escape velocity
- 35 m/s · 0% of Earth's escape velocity
- Estimated from the estimated mass and radius
Orbit around Jupiter
- Distance from Jupiter
- 221,900 km
- From JPL orbital elements
- Orbital period
- 16.26 hours
- From JPL orbital elements
- Eccentricity
- 0.018
- From JPL orbital elements
- Inclination to Jupiter's Laplace plane
- 1.10 °
- 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
- 0.0354 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
Thebe 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