Editing Jupiter (section)

=== Classification ===

Jupiter's moons were classified into four groups of four, based on their similar [[orbital elements]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0019103581901512|title=Derivation of the collision probability between orbiting objects: the lifetimes of jupiter's outer moons|date=October 1981|volume=48|issue=1|last1=Kessler|first1=Donald J.|journal=Icarus|pages=39–48|doi=10.1016/0019-1035(81)90151-2|bibcode=1981Icar...48...39K|s2cid=122395249 |access-date=December 30, 2020|archive-date=September 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929074926/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0019103581901512|url-status=live}}</ref> This picture has been complicated by the discovery of numerous small outer moons since 1999. Jupiter's moons are divided into several different groups, although there are two known moons which are not part of any group ([[Themisto (moon)|Themisto]] and [[Valetudo (moon)|Valetudo]]).<ref>{{cite book|page=14|title=Moons of the Solar System|year=2013|last1=Hamilton|first1=Thomas W. M.|publisher=SPBRA|isbn=978-1-62516-175-8}}</ref>

The eight innermost [[regular moon]]s, which have nearly circular orbits near the plane of Jupiter's equator, are thought to have formed alongside Jupiter, while the remainder are [[irregular moons]] and are thought to be [[Asteroid capture|captured asteroids]] or fragments of captured asteroids. The irregular moons within each group may have a common origin, perhaps as a larger moon or captured body that broke up.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Jewitt | first1=D. C. | last2=Sheppard | first2=S. | last3=Porco | first3=C. | editor1-last=Bagenal | editor1-first=F. | editor2-last=Dowling | editor2-first=T. | editor3-last=McKinnon | editor3-first=W. | date=2004 | title=Jupiter: The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-81808-7 | url=http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/papers/JUPITER/JSP.2003.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326065151/http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/papers/JUPITER/JSP.2003.pdf | archive-date=March 26, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="Nesvorný">{{cite journal | last1=Nesvorný | first1=D. | last2=Alvarellos | first2=J. L. A. | last3=Dones | first3=L. | last4=Levison | first4=H. F. | title=Orbital and Collisional Evolution of the Irregular Satellites | journal=The Astronomical Journal | year=2003 | volume=126 | issue=1 | pages=398–429 | bibcode=2003AJ....126..398N | doi=10.1086/375461 | s2cid=8502734 | url=http://www.boulder.swri.edu/%7Edavidn/papers/irrbig.pdf | access-date=August 25, 2019 | archive-date=August 1, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801203200/https://www.boulder.swri.edu/~davidn/papers/irrbig.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" | Regular moons
|-
| [[Inner satellites of Jupiter|Inner group]]
| The inner group of four small moons all have diameters of less than 200&nbsp;km, orbit at radii less than 200,000&nbsp;km, and have orbital inclinations of less than half a degree.<ref name="nasa_orbit_parameters">{{Cite web |date=August 23, 2013 |title=Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?sat_elem |access-date=February 1, 2016 |publisher=[[JPL]], [[NASA]] |archive-date=November 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103134221/http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?sat_elem |url-status=live }}, and references therein.</ref> 
|-
| [[Galilean moons|Galilean&nbsp;moons]]<ref>{{cite journal | title=The Galilean Satellites | last1=Showman | first1=A. P. | last2=Malhotra | first2=R. | journal=Science | year=1999 | volume=286 | issue=5437 | pages=77–84 | doi=10.1126/science.286.5437.77 | pmid=10506564 | s2cid=9492520 | bibcode=1999Sci...296...77S }}</ref>
| These four moons, discovered by [[Galileo Galilei]] and by [[Simon Marius]] in parallel, orbit between 400,000 and 2 million&nbsp;km, and are some of the largest moons in the Solar System.
|-
! colspan="2" | Irregular moons
|-
| [[Himalia group]]
| A tightly clustered group of [[Retrograde motion|prograde-orbiting]] moons with orbits around 11–12 million&nbsp;km from Jupiter<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Scott S.|last1=Sheppard|first2=David C.|last2=Jewitt|author-link1=Scott S. Sheppard|author-link2=David C. Jewitt|title=An abundant population of small irregular satellites around Jupiter|journal=Nature|volume=423|date=May 2003|issue=6937|pages=261–263|url=http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/papers/JSATS/SJ2003.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813235622/http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/papers/JSATS/SJ2003.pdf|doi=10.1038/nature01584|pmid=12748634|bibcode=2003Natur.423..261S|s2cid=4424447|archive-date=August 13, 2006}}</ref>
|-
| [[Carpo (moon)|Carpo group]]
|  A sparsely populated group of small moons with highly inclined prograde orbits around 16–17 million&nbsp;km from Jupiter<ref name="SheppardMoons"/>
|-
| [[Ananke group|Ananke&nbsp;group]]
| This group of [[Retrograde motion|retrograde-orbiting]] moons has rather indistinct borders, averaging 21.3 million&nbsp;km from Jupiter with an average inclination of 149 degrees.<ref name="Nesvorný"/>
|-
| [[Carme group]]
| A tightly clustered group of retrograde-orbiting moons that averages 23.4 million&nbsp;km from Jupiter with an average inclination of 165 degrees<ref name="Nesvorný"/>
|-
| [[Pasiphae group]]
| A dispersed and vaguely distinct retrograde group that covers all the outermost moons<ref>{{cite journal|first1=David|last1=Nesvorný|first2=Cristian|last2=Beaugé|first3=Luke|last3=Dones|last4=Levison|first4=Harold F.|title=Collisional Origin of Families of Irregular Satellites|journal=The Astronomical Journal|volume=127|date=July 2003|issue=3|pages=1768–1783|doi=10.1086/382099 | bibcode=2004AJ....127.1768N |s2cid=27293848 | url=http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~davidn/papers/irrbig.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.boulder.swri.edu/~davidn/papers/irrbig.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>
|}