Kilometre-scale Jovian moon characterized for a potential JUICE flyby
Özet
Jupiter’s irregular satellites are thought to be relics of early Solar System planetesimals. However, their small sizes, large distances from Earth and close angular proximity to Jupiter, make them difficult to characterize remotely. Here we report multi-instrument observations of the kilometre-sized Kallichore, the only irregular moon of Jupiter amenable to a close flyby of the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, with its astrometric and physical properties still poorly constrained. We used Hubble photometry and astrometry, followed by a ground-based multi-site stellar occultation campaign and by astrometric and photometric observations from the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio de Canarias. We could reduce Kallichore’s orbital uncertainty by up to ~80% and determine its shape: an elongated object with a minimum semi-axis ratio a/b = 1.53 ± 0.10, an area-equivalent diameter of 3.8−0.3+2.3 km and a dark surface with geometric albedo 3.7−2.2+0.7%. No close companions were detected. These new constraints provide a viable pathway towards a Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer flyby once the spacecraft arrives at the Jupiter system in 2031.
Atıf için künye
Rizos, J. L., Gómez-Limón, J. M., Kilic, Y., Gomes-Júnior, A. R., Ortiz, J. L., Morales, N., Álvarez-Candal, Á., Palumbo, P., Lara, L. M., Porter, S., Proudfoot, B., Prais, E. C. M., Christille, J. M., Sartor, S., Cabrera, A., Geier, S., Spolon, A., Lucchetti, A., Soffiantini, A., … Tinaut-Ruano, F. (2026). Kilometre-scale Jovian moon characterized for a potential JUICE flyby. Nature Astronomy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02929-z
BibTeX
@article{rizos2026-57517,
author = {Rizos, Juan Luis and Gómez-Limón, Jose María and Kilic, Yucel and Gomes-Júnior, Altair R. and Ortiz, Jose Luis and Morales, Nicolas and Álvarez-Candal, Álvaro and Palumbo, Pasquale and Lara, Luisa M. and Porter, Simon and Proudfoot, Benjamin and Prais, Evelyn Christiny M. and Christille, Jean Marc and Sartor, Stefano and Cabrera, Antonio and Geier, Stefan and Spolon, Alessia and Lucchetti, Alice and Soffiantini, Andrea and Verbiscer, Anne and Behrend, Armin and Epifani, Elena Mazzotta and Dumont, Jean-Louis and Zampieri, Luca and Skrutskie, Mike and Pajola, Maurizio and Boutet, Michel and Fiori, Michele and Behrend, Raoul and Sposetti, Stefano and Nikitin, Vadim and Cavaille, Fabien and Sérot, Jocelyn and Miralabe, Laurent and Buie, Marc and Bagiran, Mehmed Naim and Altan, Metin and Niaei, Mohammad and Robichon, Noël and Erece, Orhan and Phan, Pierre-Louis and Lallemand, Raphael and FİŞEK, SÜLEYMAN and Etienne, Valentin and Lainey, Valery and Güney, Yavuz and Avcioglu, Yusuf and Poulet, Francois and Hartogh, Paul and Witasse, Oliver and Santos-Sanz, Pablo and de León, Julia and Rommel, Flavia L. and Tinaut-Ruano, Fernando},
title = {Kilometre-scale Jovian moon characterized for a potential JUICE flyby},
journal = {Nature Astronomy},
year = {2026},
issn = {2397-3366},
doi = {10.1038/s41550-026-02929-z},
url = {https://akademik.atauni.edu.tr/yayinlar/57517-kilometre-scale-jovian-moon-characterized-for-a-potential-juice-flyby}
}