Amalthea

Amalthea — moon orbiting Jupiter, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

A deep-red lump skimming just above Jupiter’s cloud tops, dyed by sulfur blasted off Io and stretched by tides into a permanent egg shape.

Radius
83.5 km
Orbit
181k km from Jupiter
Period
0.50 days
Colour
The reddest object in the solar system
Gives off
More heat than it gets from the Sun

Seeing Amalthea in real time

Cosmoscope puts Amalthea at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Amalthea is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Amalthea where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.

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