Kalyke / Science

Science · Kalyke

What the research says about Kalyke

These are four research papers, all free to read on arXiv, about Kalyke, including three family-level papers labeled as such. We summarize each one in plain English from its abstract.

Papers 4
Topics 3
Reviewed Oct 24, 2026
Source arXiv.org

Illustrative · not to scale

Our own artist's impression. No figures are taken from the papers.

Size, shape & spin

1 paper

How big Kalyke is, what shape it has and how it spins.

[1]2020astro-ph.EPPreprintFamily-level

Revisiting the distributions of Jupiter's irregular moons: I. physical characteristics

Fabao Gao & Xia Liu

What they foundThe physical properties of the Ananke- and Carme-group moons follow log-logistic distributions.

Why it mattersIt describes how sizes and masses are spread within these families.

Family-level context: this paper studies the Ananke and Carme groups (and the Pasiphae group) as statistical populations, not Kalyke specifically.

What they studied

Statistical tests of more than 20 distributions.

arXiv:2003.04810Abstract (opens arXiv)PDF (opens arXiv)

Surface & composition

2 papers

What Kalyke is made of and how its surface behaves.

[2]2003astro-phPreprint

Photometric Survey of the Irregular Satellites

Tommy Grav, Matthew J. Holman, Brett Gladman & 1 other

What they foundMost irregular moons fall into grey or light-red colour classes; Kalyke's colours resemble the red Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects, though the classification is uncertain.

Why it mattersColour hints at where these captured moons came from.

What they studied

BVRI colour photometry of 21 irregular moons with three large telescopes.

arXiv:astro-ph/0301016Abstract (opens arXiv)PDF (opens arXiv)

[3]2017astro-ph.EPPeer-reviewedFamily-level

Composition of Jupiter irregular satellites sheds light on their origin

M. Bhatt, V. Reddy, K. Schindler & 4 others

What they foundHimalia, Elara and Carme have dark surfaces like carbon-rich meteorites.

Why it mattersIt suggests the irregular moons were captured from primitive material.

Family-level context: this paper studies three larger irregular moons of Jupiter (Himalia, Elara and Carme), not Kalyke specifically.

What they studied

IRTF near-infrared spectra and spectral unmixing.

arXiv:1710.06200Abstract (opens arXiv)PDF (opens arXiv)

Origins & history

1 paper

Where Kalyke came from and how it formed and changed over time.

[4]2025astro-ph.EPPreprintFamily-level

JWST Reveals Varied Origins Between Jupiter's Irregular Satellites

Benjamin N. L. Sharkey, Andrew S. Rivkin, Richard J. Cartwright & 3 others

What they foundJWST spectra show Jupiter's irregular moons have varied origins; small moons track the colours of their family's largest member.

Why it mattersIt covers Carme, Ananke and Pasiphae, the parents of the groups these small moons belong to.

Family-level context: this paper studies eight of Jupiter's larger irregular moons, including Carme, Ananke and Pasiphae, the namesakes of the retrograde groups, not Kalyke specifically.

What they studied

JWST NIRSpec spectra of eight irregular moons.

arXiv:2501.16484Abstract (opens arXiv)PDF (opens arXiv)

New research

New papers on Kalyke, checked weekly, summarized after a person reads it.

RSS feed

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How we choose papers

We search arXiv for Kalyke papers and keep the ones that add something new, are clearly written up and are relevant to a general reader. A person reads every abstract.

Our own words, our own drawings

Summaries are written by us from each paper’s abstract, not copied. Diagrams are our own simplified drawings, not figures from the papers.

Preprint vs. peer-reviewed

“Peer-reviewed” means arXiv lists a journal reference for the paper. Everything else is marked “Preprint”: shared openly, possibly before or without journal review.

Paper metadata courtesy of arXiv. Summaries written by us; read the original papers via the links. Paper metadata from arXiv.org, which does not endorse this site.