S/2016 J 4 Explained

S/2016 J 4
Discoverer:Scott S. Sheppard
Discovery Site:Las Campanas Obs.
Discovered:9 March 2016
Epoch:25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5)
Observation Arc:6.78 yr (2,475 d)
Earliest Precovery Date:5 February 2016
Eccentricity:0.1986458
Period:–2.04 yr (–743.69 days)
Mean Anomaly:138.36439°
Mean Motion: / day
Inclination:146.25507°
Asc Node:309.09022°
Arg Peri:302.78410°
Satellite Of:Jupiter
Group:Pasiphae group
Mean Diameter:
Magnitude:24.0
Abs Magnitude:17.3

S/2016 J 4 is a small outer natural satellite of Jupiter discovered by Scott S. Sheppard on 9 March 2016, using the 6.5-meter Magellan-Baade Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. It was announced by the Minor Planet Center on 24 January 2023, after observations were collected over a long enough time span to confirm the satellite's orbit.

S/2016 J 4 is part of the Pasiphae group, a dispersed cluster of distant retrograde irregular moons of Jupiter that follow similar orbits to Pasiphae at semi-major axes between NaNe6km, orbital eccentricities between 0.2–0.6, and inclinations between 140–160°. It has a diameter of about for an absolute magnitude of 17.3, making it one of Jupiter's smallest known moons.