Orbit
Amalthea circles Jupiter at a distance of 181 000 km (2.54 Jupiter radii). The orbit of Amalthea has an eccentricity of 0.003 and an inclination of 0.37° relative to the equator of Jupiter. Such appreciably nonzero values of inclination and eccentricity, though still small, are unusual for an inner satellite and can be explained by the influence of the innermost Galilean satellite, Io: in the past Amalthea has passed through several mean motion resonances with Io that have excited its inclination and eccentricity (in a mean motion resonance the ratio of orbital periods of two bodies is a rational number like m:n).
Amalthea's orbit lies near the outer edge of the Amalthea Gossamer Ring, which is composed of the dust ejected from the satellite.
Read more about this topic: Amalthea (moon)
Famous quotes containing the word orbit:
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