Pandia (moon)


Pandia, also known as Jupiter LXV, originally known as S/2017 J 4, is an outer natural satellite of Jupiter, 3 km in diameter.

Discovery

Pandia was discovered by Scott S. Sheppard and his team in 2017, but not announced until July 17, 2018 via a Minor Planet Electronic Circular from the Minor Planet Center.

Name

The moon was named in 2019 after Pandia, the Greek goddess of the full moon, daughter of Zeus and Selene. Pandia was among the most popular suggestions in a naming contest held by the Carnegie Institute on Twitter, with the most significant submission coming from the astronomy club of the Lanivet School in Cornwall, United Kingdom. They chose Pandia because their school's mascot is a panda and their local village used to supply bamboo for a panda at London Zoo.
It belongs to the prograde outer Himalia group which are given names ending in a.

Orbit

It orbits at a semi-major axis of about 11,525,000 km with an inclination of about 28.15°.