S/2003 J 16 is about 2 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 0.137 AU (20.5 Gm) in 600 days, at an inclination of 151° to the ecliptic (149° to Jupiter's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.333. It belongs to the Ananke group of retrograde irregular moons which orbit Jupiter between 19.3 and 22.7 Gm, at inclinations of roughly 150°.[3]
Recovery image of S/2003 J 16 on 8 September 2010 (circled)
This moon was once considered lost[5][3] until September 2010, when it was recovered by Christian Veillet with Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).[6][7] However, the recovery observations of S/2003 J 16 were not reported by the Minor Planet Center until 2020, when Ashton et al. independently identified the moon in the same CFHT images taken by Veillet back in September 2010.[8] S/2003 J 16 was also identified in observations by Scott Sheppard from March 2017 to May 2018, cumulating a long observation arc of 5,574 days (15 years) since its discovery. The recovery of S/2003 J 16 was formally announced by the Minor Planet Center on 4 November 2020.[8][2]
^ abcd"MPEC 2020-V10 : S/2003 J 16". Minor Planet Electronic Circular. Minor Planet Center. 4 November 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
^ abcdeSheppard, Scott S. (2017). "New Moons of Jupiter Announced in 2017". home.dtm.ciw.edu. Retrieved 27 June 2017. We likely have all of the lost moons in our new observations from 2017, but to link them back to the remaining lost 2003 objects requires more observations a year later to confirm the linkages, which will not happen until early 2018. ... There are likely a few more new moons as well in our 2017 observations, but we need to reobserve them in 2018 to determine which of the discoveries are new and which are lost 2003 moons.
