Elara (moon)

Elara  is a non-spherical moon of Jupiter. It was found by  Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory in 1905 and is named after the mother by Zeus of the giant Tityus.

Elara did not get its present name until 1975; before then, it was simply known as . It was sometimes called "Hera" between 1955 and 1975.

Elara belongs to the Himalia group, five moons orbiting between 11,000,000 and 13,000,000 km from Jupiter at an inclination of about 27.5°. Its orbital elements are as of January 2000. They are changing a lot due to Solar and planetary perturbations.

New Horizons encounter
In February and March 2007, the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto made a number of pictures of Elara, culminating in photos from a distance of five million miles.

References

Other websites
Elara Profile  by NASA's Solar System Exploration
David Jewitt pages
Scott Sheppard pages

Category:Jupiter's moons