ASTRO Dasar

Pythagoras College

Moons of Our Solar System

This photo illustration shows selected moons of our solar system at their correct relative sizes to each
other and to Earth.

Moons -- also called satellites -- come in many shapes, sizes and types. They are generally solid bodies,
and few have atmospheres. Most of the planetary moons probably formed from the discs of gas and
dust circulating around planets in the early solar system.
Astronomers have found at least 146 moons orbiting planets in our solar system. Another 27 moons are
awaiting official confirmation of their discovery. This number does not include the six moons of the
dwarf planets, nor does this tally include the tiny satellites that orbit some asteroids and other celestial
objects.
Of the terrestrial (rocky) planets of the inner solar system, neither Mercury nor Venus have any moons
at all, Earth has one and Mars has its two small moons. In the outer solar system, the gas giants Jupiter
and Saturn and the ice giants Uranus and Neptune have numerous moons. As these planets grew in the
early solar system, they were able to capture objects with their large gravitational fields.
Earth's Moon probably formed when a large body about the size of Mars collided with Earth, ejecting a
lot of material from our planet into orbit. Debris from the early Earth and the impacting body
accumulated to form the Moon approximately 4.5 billion years ago (the age of the oldest collected lunar
rocks). Twelve American astronauts landed on the Moon during NASA's Apollo program from 1969 to
1972, studying the Moon and bringing back rock samples.
Usually the term moon brings to mind a spherical object, like Earth's Moon. The two moons of Mars,
Phobos and Deimos, are different. While both have nearly circular orbits and travel close to the plane of
the planet's equator, they are lumpy and dark. Phobos is slowly drawing closer to Mars and could crash
into the planet in 40 or 50 million years. Or the planet's gravity might break Phobos apart, creating a
thin ring around Mars.
Jupiter has 50 known moons (plus 17 awaiting official confirmation), including the largest moon in the
solar system, Ganymede. Many of Jupiter's outer moons have highly elliptical orbits and orbit backwards
(opposite to the spin of the planet). Saturn, Uranus and Neptune also have some irregular moons, which
orbit far from their respective planets.

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Saturn has 53 known moons (plus 9 awaiting official
confirmation). The chunks of ice and rock in Saturn's rings
(and the particles in the rings of the other outer planets)
are not considered moons, yet embedded in Saturn's rings
are distinct moons or moonlets. These shepherd moons
help keep the rings in line. Saturn's moon Titan, the second
largest in the solar system, is the only moon with a thick
atmosphere.
In the realm of the ice giants, Uranus has 27 known
moons. The inner moons appear to be about half water ice
and half rock. Miranda is the most unusual; its chopped-up
appearance shows the scars of impacts of large rocky
bodies.
Neptune has 13 known moons. And Neptune's moon
Triton is as big as the dwarf planet Pluto and orbits
backwards compared with Neptune's direction of rotation.

Pan is responsible for a gap in Saturn's

rings.

Pluto's large moon Charon is about half the size of Pluto. Like Earth's Moon, Charon may have formed
from debris resulting from an early collision of an impactor with Pluto. In 2005, scientists using the
Hubble Space Telescope to study Pluto found two additional, but very small, moons. The little moons
Nix and Hydra are about two to three times as far from Pluto as Charon and roughly 5,000 times fainter
than Pluto. Eris, another dwarf planet even more distant than Pluto, has a small moon of its own, named
Dysnomia. Haumea, another dwarf planet, has two satellites, Hi'iaka and Namaka.

How the Moons of Our Solar System Get Their Names

Most moons in our solar system are named for mythological characters from a wide variety of cultures.
Uranus is the exception. Uranus' moons are named for characters in William Shakespeare's plays and
from Alexander Pope's poem "Rape of the Lock." Moons are given provisional designations such as
S/2009 S1, the first satellite discovered at Saturn in 2009. The International Astronomical Union
approves an official name when the discovery is confirmed.

Significant Dates
1610: Galileo Galilei and Simon Marius independently discover
four moons orbiting Jupiter. The moons are known as the Galilean
satellites in honor of Galileo's discovery, which also confirms the
planets in our solar system orbit the sun.
1877: Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos.
1969: Astronaut Neil Armstrong is the first of 12 men to walk on
the surface of Earth's Moon.
1980: Voyager 1 instruments detect signs of surface features
Huygens' image of Titan
beneath the hazy atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
surface. The rocks are
2005: The European Space Agency's Huygens probe lands on the
about the size of pebbles.
surface of Titan. It is the first spacecraft to successfully land on a
moon beyond Earth's own moon.
2000-present Using improved ground-based telescopes, orbiting observatories such as the
Hubble Space Telescope and spacecraft observations, scientists find dozens of new moons in our
solar system.

Earth
1. Earth's Moon
Mars
2. Phobos
3. Deimos
Jupiter
4. Io
5. Europa

6. Ganymede
7. Callisto
8. Amalthea
9. Himalia
10. Elara
11. Pasiphae
12. Sinope
13. Lysithea
14. Carme
15. Ananke

16. Leda
17. Thebe
18. Adrastea
19. Metis
20. Callirrhoe
21. Themisto
22. Megaclite
23. Taygete
24. Chaldene
25. Harpalyke

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ASTRO Dasar
Pythagoras College

26. Kalyke
27. Iocaste
28. Erinome
29. Isonoe
30. Praxidike
31. Autonoe
32. Thyone
33. Hermippe
34. Aitne
35. Eurydome
36. Euanthe
37. Euporie
38. Orthosie
39. Sponde
40. Kale
41. Pasithee
42. Hegemone
43. Mneme
44. Aoede
45. Thelxinoe
46. Arche
47. Kallichore
48. Helike
49. Carpo
50. Eukelade
51. Cyllene
52. Kore
53. Herse
Saturn
54. Mimas
55. Enceladus
56. Tethys
57. Dione
58. Rhea
59. Titan
60. Hyperion
61. Iapetus
62. Erriapus
63. Phoebe
64. Janus
65. Epimetheus
66. Helene
67. Telesto
68. Calypso
69. Kiviuq
70. Atlas
71. Prometheus
72. Pandora
73. Pan
74. Ymir
75. Paaliaq
76. Tarvos
77. Ijiraq
78. Suttungr
79. Mundilfari
80. Albiorix
81. Skathi
82. Siarnaq
83. Thrymr

84. Narvi
85. Methone
86. Pallene
87. Polydeuces
88. Daphnis
89. Aegir
90. Bebhionn
91. Bergelmir
92. Bestla
93. Farbauti
94. Fenrir
95. Fornjot
96. Hati
97. Hyrrokkin
98. Kari
99. Loge
100. Skoll
101. Surtur
102. Greip
103. Jarnsaxa
104. Tarqeq
105. Anthe
106. Aegaeon
Uranus
107. Cordelia
108. Ophelia
109. Bianca
110. Cressida
111. Desdemona
112. Juliet
113. Portia
114. Rosalind
115. Mab
116. Belinda
117. Perdita
118. Puck
119. Cupid
120. Miranda
121. Francisco
122. Ariel
123. Umbriel
124. Titania
125. Oberon
126. Caliban
127. Stephano
128. Trinculo
129. Sycorax
130. Margaret
131. Prospero
132. Setebos
133. Ferdinand

141. Proteus
142. Halimede
143.Psamathe
144. Sao
145.Laomedeia
146. Neso
Provisional Moons
Jupiter
1. S/2000 J11
2. S/2003 J2
3. S/2003 J3
4. S/2003 J4
5. S/2003 J5
6. S/2003 J9
7. S/2003 J10
8. S/2003 J12
9. S/2003 J15
10. S/2003 J16
11. S/2003 J18
12. S/2003 J19
13. S/2003 J23
14. S/2010 J 1
15. S/2010 J 2
16. S/2011 J1
17. S/2011 J2
Saturn
18. S/2004 S7
19. S/2004 S12
20. S/2004 S13
21. S/2004 S17
22. S/2006 S1
23. S/2006 S3
24. S/2007 S2
25. S/2007 S3
26. S/2009 S1
Neptune
27. S/2004 N1

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/
planets/profile.cfm?Object=S
olarSys&Display=Moons

The Guru of Physics

Neptune
134. Triton
135. Nereid
136. Naiad
137. halassa
138. Despina
139. Galatea
140. Larissa

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