Amalthea: Jupiter’s unusual inner moon

Amalthea is a mysterious and irregularly shaped inner moon of the planet Jupiter. It was actually the first one that was discovered after the four Galilean moons were found, and is currently the fifth largest. Amalthea is Jupiter’s third moon and takes just 12 hours to make a full orbit around. Amalthea was found on September 9, 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard and named it after the Greek mythological figure. It was the last satellite to be discovered by direct observation too.

Key Takeaways:

• Amalthea is one of Jupiter’s satellites and was the first one to be discovered after Galileans’ Moons.
• In order to make a full orbit, it will take 12 hours to get around Amalthea which is Jupiter’s third moon.
• Amalthea was also the last planetary satellite to be discovered by direct observation. It was found via a telescope.

“Not much is known about Amalthea, as it has only been observed by three spacecraft: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1979, and the Galileo spacecraft in 2002.”

Read more: https://www.space.com/amalthea-jupiter-moon

References:

• Space (Website)
• Tech Rating Trends (YouTube Channel)