Ananke

Ananke

Ananke is one of Jupiter's irregular moons. It was discovered on September 28, 1951, by American astronomer Seth Barnes Nicholson. Ananke is a member of the Ananke Group, which is a collection of irregular moons with similar orbital characteristics. Ananke's small size and distant orbit around Jupiter make it challenging to obtain detailed information about its physical characteristics, composition, and surface features. It follows a retrograde, highly inclined orbit around Jupiter, moving in the opposite direction of the planet's rotation and at an angle to the plane of Jupiter's equator. Irregular moons like Ananke are believed to have originated from captured asteroids or fragments resulting from collisions.