irregular moon · moon of Jupiter
Himalia
The largest irregular moon of Jupiter, a distant captured body that gives its name to a whole family of moons.
- Distance from Earth today
- 820.2 million km5.483 AU · light: 45 min 36 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 795.1 million km5.315 AU
- As of
- 2 November 2026position from NASA/JPL orbital elements
Where it is today
Top view of the plane of Earth’s orbit, compressed distance scale. Open on the big map with the time slider →
Facts
- Diameter
- 170 km
- Mass
- 2.27 × 10¹⁸ kg
- Density
- 883 kg/m³
- Mean distance from the planet
- 11,439,000 km
- Orbital period
- 249.9 days
- Orbital eccentricity
- 0.160
- Orbital inclination
- 28.4°
Source of the figures: JPL SSD – Planetary Satellites (public domain).
Discovery: 1904 – Charles Dillon Perrine
Description
Himalia is the largest of Jupiter's irregular moons, which follow distant, tilted and eccentric orbits far beyond the Galilean satellites. Charles Perrine discovered it in 1904 at Lick Observatory. It is thought to be a captured asteroid-like body, and several smaller moons on similar orbits – the Himalia group – may be fragments from a collision that broke up its parent. Being so far from Jupiter, it has only been seen from a distance by spacecraft: Cassini imaged it in 2000 on the way to Saturn, and New Horizons in 2007 on the way to Pluto.