Taygete , also known as , and provisionally designated S/2000 J 9, is a very small retrograde irregular satellite of Jupiter.
Discovery and naming It was discovered by a team of astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi led by Scott S. Sheppard, in 2000, and given the temporary designation .IAUC 7555: Satellites of Jupiter 2001 January 5 (discovery)MPEC 2001-A29: S/2000 J 7, S/2000 J 8, S/2000 J 9, S/2000 J 10, S/2000 J 11 2001 January 15 (discovery and ephemeris)MPEC 2001-T59: S/2000 J 8, S/2000 J 9, S/2000 J 10 2001 October 15 (revised ephemeris)
It was named in October 2002 after Taygete,IAUC 7998: Satellites of Jupiter 2002 October 22 (naming the moon) one of the Pleiades, daughter of the Titan Atlas and mother of Lacedaemon by Zeus (Jupiter).
Orbit Taygete orbits Jupiter at an average distance of 23.3 million kilometers in 732 days, at an inclination of 165° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an eccentricity of 0.248.
It belongs to the Carme group, made up a tightly of irregular retrograde moons orbiting Jupiter at a distance ranging between 22.7–23.5 million km, at an inclination of about 165°, and eccentricities between 0.24 and 0.28.
Physical characteristics Taygete's estimated diameter is 5 kilometers, assuming an albedo of 4%.
Like most other members of the Carme group (the exception is Kalyke), it is light red in color (B−V=0.56, V−R=0.52), similar to D-type asteroids.
Origin Taygete probably did not form near Jupiter but was captured by Jupiter later. Much like the other members of the Carme group, which have similar orbits, Taygete is likely to be the remnant of a broken, captured heliocentric asteroid.
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