Amalthea

noun

Am·​al·​thea ˌa-məl-ˈthē-ə 

astronomy

: the largest of the inner satellites of Jupiter with a diameter of approximately 100 miles (160 km)

The moon is only 40 to 50 miles in diameter and, like the one found earlier, is far closer to Jupiter than the planet's larger moons. Its orbit, however, lies 25,000 miles farther out than that of Amalthea, innermost of the moons previously known.

—New York Times, 23 May 1980

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin Amalthēa, a nymph in classical myth who nursed Zeus, borrowed from Greek Amáltheia

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

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