The Amalthea group is made up of the small moons of Jupiter which orbit close to the planet, merging with its planetary ring. Their semi-major axes range between 128 and 222 Mm. Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... In physics, an orbit is the path that an object makes, around another object, whilst under the influence of a source of centripetal force, such as gravity. ... A planetary ring is a ring of dust and other small particles orbiting around a planet in a flat disc-shaped region. ... In geometry, the term semi-major axis (also semimajor axis) is used to describe the dimensions of ellipses and hyperbolas. ...
The four members of the group are (in order of increasing distance from Jupiter):
Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Metis (IPA: , mee-tis, Greek Μήτις) is the innermost member of the Amalthea group of Jupiters small inner moons. ... Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Adrastea (a DRAS tee a) is the second of Jupiters known moons (counting outward from the planet). ... Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Amalthea (IPA: , am-ul-thee-a, Greek Αμάλθεια) is the third moon of Jupiter (in order of distance from the planet), and the fifth in order of discovery, hence its Roman numeral designation of Jupiter V. It was discovered on September 9, 1892 by Edward Emerson Barnard... Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Thebe (pronounced THEE bee) is the fourth of Jupiters known satellites by distance from the planet. ...
The surface of Amalthea resembles regions of Callisto that are not covered by ice.
This suggests that Amalthea may have been one of the many small "micro-satellites" orbitingJupiter that was sucked into an inner orbit when the Galilean moons formed.
However, the spectrum of Amalthea has similarities with asteroids orbiting the Sun, suggesting that is was a "micro-planet" that was pulled into Jupiter'sorbit when Jupiter itself was forming.
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