Himalia (moon)

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/himalia-moon

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is Himalia (moon)?Captured asteroid
2. What is the classification?Irregular moon of Jupiter
3. What is the mean diameter?Approximately 170 kilometers (105 miles)
4. What is Himalia and why is it called a "speedy moon"?Himalia is a rocky moon of Jupiter that orbits the planet very quickly, taking only about 13.7 hours to go around once.
5. Why does Himalia look like a potato instead of a sphere?Himalia has an irregular, potato‑like shape because it is small and was probably captured from elsewhere, so it hasn't had time to become round.

Irregular Satellite: A moon with a distant, often highly inclined and eccentric orbit around its primary planet.
Circumplanetary Disk: A rotating disk of gas and dust surrounding a planet, from which moons can form.
Orbital Eccentricity: A measure of how much an orbit deviates from being a perfect circle.
Albedo: The measure of how much light is reflected by a surface; a low albedo means it's dark.