Pasiphae is indeed one of Jupiter's moons. It is the largest known irregular moon of Jupiter and is a member of the Pasiphae group, which is a cluster of irregular moons that orbit Jupiter in a retrograde direction, meaning they orbit the planet in the opposite direction of Jupiter's rotation. Pasiphae was discovered in 1908 by the American astronomer Philibert Jacques Melotte.
Here are some key details about Pasiphae:
Size and Characteristics: Pasiphae is relatively large for an irregular moon of Jupiter, but it is still much smaller than Jupiter's largest moons like Ganymede and Callisto. It is irregularly shaped and is believed to be composed of a mixture of rock and ice.
Orbit: Pasiphae follows a retrograde orbit around Jupiter, which means it orbits the planet in the opposite direction of Jupiter's rotation. Its orbit is distant from Jupiter and highly inclined relative to the planet's equator.
Name Origin: Pasiphae is named after a figure from Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Pasiphae was the daughter of Helios (the sun god) and a nymph. She is best known for her role in the myth of the Minotaur, where she was the mother of the Minotaur after a curse led her to fall in love with a bull.
Discovery: Pasiphae was discovered by Philibert Jacques Melotte in 1908 through photographic plates taken at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.
Exploration: As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, there haven't been any dedicated space missions to study Pasiphae specifically. Most of the information about this moon and others in its group comes from observations made by telescopes and spacecraft like the Galileo orbiter.
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