S/2016 J 3 is a small outer natural satellite of Jupiter discovered by Scott S. Sheppard on 9 March 2016, using the 6.5-meter Magellan-Baade Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. It was announced by the Minor Planet Center 7 years later on 5 January 2023, after observations were collected over a long enough time span to confirm the satellite's orbit.[1]
S/2016 J 3 is part of the Carme group, a tight cluster of retrograde irregular moons of Jupiter that follow similar orbits to Carme at semi-major axes between 22–24 million km (14–15 million mi), orbital eccentricities between 0.2–0.3, and inclinations between 163–166°.[3] It has a diameter of about 2 km (1.2 mi) for an absolute magnitude of 16.7.[3]
References