Ersa (moon)


Ersa, also Jupiter LXXI, originally known as S/2018 J 1, is an outer natural satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by Scott S. Sheppard and his team in 2018, and was announced on July 17, 2018, via a Minor Planet Electronic Circular from the Minor Planet Center.
It is about in diameter and has an orbit radius of around ; its orbital inclination is about 30.61°. It belongs to the Himalia group.

Name

The moon was named in 2019 after Ersa, the Greek goddess of dew, daughter of Zeus and Selene: Jupiter L Herse is also named for this goddess. The name was suggested in a naming contest held by the Carnegie Institute on Twitter where more than 20 tweets suggested that name, most significantly by users Aaron Quah who submitted the name first, StSauveur_MoonsProject who are the 12th grade students of Saint Sauveur High School in Redon, France, the fifth grade at Hillside Traditional Academy in British Columbia, Canada, and a 4-year-old child named Walter who sang a song about Ersa.