It was discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine at Lick Observatory in 1905 in photographs taken with the 36" Crossley reflecting telescope which he had recently rebuilt.

[1][8] It is the eighth-largest moon of Jupiter and is named after Elara, one of Zeus's lovers and the mother of the giant Tityos.

Elara belongs to the Himalia group, moons orbiting between 11 and 13 gigametres from Jupiter at an inclination of about 27.5°.

However, poor weather conditions delayed the confirmation of the discovery till the 21st of February.

[12] In February and March 2007, the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto captured Elara in several LORRI images from a distance of five million miles.