Inner satellites of Jupiter

The inner satellites of Jupiter are four small moons that orbit close to Jupiter. These satellites are closely interconnected with Jupiter's rings and serve as both sources and sinks of the ring's material. Their semi-major axes range between 128,000 and 222,000 km.^[1]

The members of the group are (in order of increasing distance from Jupiter):

• Metis
• Adrastea
• Amalthea, the largest, after which the group is sometimes named
• Thebe

Metis and Adrastea each orbit Jupiter in less than one Jovian day. Phobos, a moon of Mars, is the only other natural satellite known to orbit its planet in less than the length of that planet's day.

See also

• Inner satellite
• Moons of Jupiter

Gallery of images

Image of Metis taken by the Galileo spacecraft

Galileo image of Adrastea

Images of Amalthea obtained from the Galileo spacecraft

Image of Thebe obtained by the Galileo spacecraft

References

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bg:Група на Амалтея (спътници)

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