Physical Characteristics
With diameter estimated at 58 km Pasiphae is the largest retrograde and third largest irregular satellite after Himalia and Elara.
Spectroscopical measurements in infrared indicate that Pasiphae is a spectrally featureless object, consistent with the suspected asteroidal origin of the object. Pasiphae is believed to be a fragment from a captured asteroid along with other Pasiphae group satellites.
In the visual spectrum the satellite appears grey (colour indices B-V=0.74, R-V=0.38) similar to C-type asteroids.
Read more about this topic: Pasiphae (moon)
Famous quotes containing the word physical:
“To survive there, you need the ambition of a Latin-American revolutionary, the ego of a grand opera tenor, and the physical stamina of a cow pony.”
—Billie Burke (18851970)