What is Inner moons of Jupiter?
The '''inner moons of Jupiter''' are four small moons that [[orbit]] close to [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]]. These moons are closely interconnected with the [[rings of Jupiter]] and serve as both sources and sinks of the ring's material. Their [[semi-major axis|semi-major axes]] range between 128,000 and 222,000 [[kilometer|km]].<ref name=Burns2004>{{Harvard reference|Surname1=Burns|Given1=J.A.|Surname2=Simonelli|Given2=D.P.|Surname3=Showalter|Given3=M.R.|Surname4=Hamilton|Given4=D.P.|Surname5=Porco|Given5=C.C.|Surname6=Esposito|Given6=L.W.|Surname7=Throop|Given7=H.|Chapter=Jupiter’s Ring-Moon System| Title=Jupiter: The planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere|Year=2004|Publisher=Cambridge University Press|Editor= Bagenal, F.; Dowling, T. E.; McKinnon, W. B.|url= http://www.astro.umd.edu/~hamilton/research/preprints/BurSimSho03.pdf }}</ref> The members of the group are (in order from closest to farthest): * [[Metis (moon)|Metis]] * [[Adrastea (moon)|Adrastea]] * [[Amalthea (moon)|Amalthea]], the biggest, after which the group is sometimes named * [[Thebe (moon)|Thebe]] [[Metis (moon)|Metis]] and [[Adrastea (moon)|Adrastea]] each orbit [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]] in less than one Jovian day (the time it takes for Jupiter to rotate once). [[Phobos (moon)|Phobos]], a moon of [[Mars (planet)|Mars]], is the only other moon known to orbit its planet in less than the length of that planet's day. ==Gallery of images== <center> <gallery> Image:Metis.jpg|Image of [[Metis (moon)|Metis]] taken by the [[Galileo spacecraft]] Image:Adrastea.jpg|[[Galileo spacecraft|Galileo]] image of [[Adrastea (moon)|Adrastea]] Image:Amalthea PIA02532.png|Images of [[Amalthea (moon)|Amalthea]] taken from the [[Galileo spacecraft]] Image:thebe.jpg|Image of [[Thebe (moon)|Thebe]] taken by the [[Galileo spacecraft]] </gallery> </center> ==Related pages== *[[List of Jupiter's moons]] ==References== {{reflist}} {{Moons of Jupiter}} [[Category:Jupiter's moons]]