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Adrastea

Adrastea
Discovery
Discovered byD. C. Jewitt
E. Danielson
Discovered in1979
Orbital characteristics
Mean radius129,000 km
Eccentricity0.0018
Revolution period7h 9.5m
Inclination0.05°
Is a satellite ofJupiter
Physical characteristics
Equatorial diameter23×20×15 km
Surface areakm2
Mass1.8894×1016 kg
Mean density4.5 g/cm3
Surface gravity0.012 m/s2
Rotation period7h 9.5m
Axial tilt
Albedo0.05
Surface temp.
minmeanmax
KKK
Atmospheric pressure0 kPa

Adrastea ("a DRAS tee uh") is the second of Jupiter's known moons (counting outward from the planet). It was discovered by the Voyager 1 probe and is named after the daughter of Jupiter and Ananke (or possibly for Adrastus, the mythical Greek king of Argos who led several expeditions against Thebes and whose daughter married Polynices of Thebes).

Adrastea is inside Jupiter's planetary ring and may be the source of some of its material. Its orbit lies inside Jupiter's synchronous orbit radius, and as a result tidal forces are slowly causing its orbit to decay. It is also within Jupiter's Roche limit, but is small enough to avoid tidal disruption.

This image of Adrastea was taken by Galileo's solid state imaging system between November 1996 and June 1997.



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