Valetudo (moon)

Valetudo

Precovery images of Valetudo taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on 28 February 2003
Discovery[1]
Discovered by	Scott S. Sheppard et al.
Discovery site	Las Campanas Obs.
Discovery date	9 March 2016
Designations
Designation	Jupiter LXII
Pronunciation	/væləˈtjuːdoʊ/
Named after	Roman name for the Greek goddess, Hygieia
Alternative names	S/2016 J 2
Adjectives	Valetudian
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 17 December 2020 (JD 2459200.5)
Observation arc	15.22 yr (5,558 d)
Earliest precovery date	26 February 2003
Semi-major axis	0.1257974 AU (18,819,020 km)
Eccentricity	0.2018315
Orbital period (sidereal)	+1.44 yr (+527.41 d)
Mean anomaly	201.41718°
Mean motion	0° 40m 57.274s / day
Inclination	32.03294° (to the ecliptic)
Longitude of ascending node	235.45916°
Argument of perihelion	122.37546°
Satellite of	Jupiter
Group	(own group)
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	1 km[3]
Apparent magnitude	24.0[3]
Absolute magnitude (H)	17.0

Valetudo /væləˈtjuːdoʊ/, also known as Jupiter LXII and originally known as S/2016 J 2, is an irregular moon of Jupiter. It was discovered by Scott S. Sheppard and his team in data acquired by the 6.5-m Magellan-Baade telescope of the Las Campanas Observatory in 2016, but was not announced until 17 July 2018, via a Minor Planet Electronic Circular from the Minor Planet Center, which also reported the discovery of nine other of Jupiter's moons.^[1] Besides data from Las Campanas, the original announcement also referred to data acquired through the 8.1-m Gemini North telescope of the Mauna Kea Observatories as well as the 4.0-m reflector of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.^[4]