Himalia Target Name:   Himalia Spacecraft:   Cassini Produced by:   NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Copyright:  NASA Copyright Free Policy Date Taken:   19 December 2000 Date Released:  22 January 2001

• Himalia, A Moon of Jupiter

The brightest of Jupiter's outer satellites, Himalia, was captured and resolved, for the first time, in a series of narrow angle images taken on December 19, 2000 from a distance of 4.4 million kilometers during the brief period when Cassini's attitude was stabilized by thrusters instead of reaction wheels. This particular 1.0 second exposure was one of the sharpest, with a resolution of ~ 27 km/pixel, and was taken through a near-infrared spectral filter at 1:07 UTC (spacecraft time). The sunlight is coming from the left. It is likely that Himalia is not spherical: it is believed to be a body captured into orbit around Jupiter and as such, is likely to be an irregularly shaped asteroid. At the time this image was acquired, the dimensions of the side of Himalia facing the cameras is roughly 160 km in the up/down direction.