S/2003 J 16

S/2003 J 16 is a natural satellite of Jupiter. It was discovered by a team of astronomers led by Brett J. Gladman in 2003.^[4][1]

S/2003 J 16

Recovery images of S/2003 J 16 taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in September 2010
Discovery [1]
Discovered by	Brett J. Gladman John J. Kavelaars Jean-Marc Petit Lynne Allen
Discovery site	Mauna Kea Obs.
Discovery date	6 February 2003
Orbital characteristics [2]
Epoch 17 December 2020 (JD 2459200.5)
Observation arc	15.26 yr (5,574 d)
Semi-major axis	0.1371176 AU (20,512,500 km)
Eccentricity	0.3330999
Orbital period (sidereal)	–1.64 yr (–600.18 d)
Mean anomaly	88.24314°
Mean motion	0° 35m 59.341s / day
Inclination	151.16323° (to ecliptic) 28.83677° (retrograde)
Longitude of ascending node	83.26365°
Argument of perihelion	86.51495°
Satellite of	Jupiter
Group	Ananke group
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	≈2 km[3]
Albedo	0.04 (assumed)[3]
Apparent magnitude	23.3[3]
Absolute magnitude (H)	16.3[2]

S/2003 J 16 is about 2 kilometres in diameter, and orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 0.137 AU (20.5 Gm) in 600 days, at an inclination of 151° to the ecliptic (149° to Jupiter's equator), in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.333. It belongs to the Ananke group of retrograde irregular moons which orbit Jupiter between 19.3 and 22.7 Gm, at inclinations of roughly 150°.^[3]

Recovery image of S/2003 J 16 on 8 September 2010 (circled)

This moon was once considered lost^[5][3] until September 2010, when it was recovered by Christian Veillet with Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).^[6][7] However, the recovery observations of S/2003 J 16 were not reported by the Minor Planet Center until 2020, when Ashton et al. independently identified the moon in the same CFHT images taken by Veillet back in September 2010.^[8] S/2003 J 16 was also identified in observations by Scott Sheppard from March 2017 to May 2018, cumulating a long observation arc of 5,574 days (15 years) since its discovery. The recovery of S/2003 J 16 was formally announced by the Minor Planet Center on 4 November 2020.^[8][2]