Moons
-
IO
Jupiter has 79 moons that orbit this giant, and scientists often suggest that had Jupiter grown just a bit more, it would have become a sun with a miniature solar system.
-
Deimos
The planet Mars is the only terrestrial planet that has more than one moon. Deimos is the smaller of its two moons and if you look at both moons, they have a lumpy appearance of an asteroid.
-
Phobos
Phobos is one of the two moons that orbits Mars. It is only 3,700 mi/6,000 km above the surface and this is one of the main reasons that astronomers of the past had a difficult time seeing it.
-
Europa
Europa is one of the 79 known moons orbiting Jupiter. An interesting thing to note is that if Jupiter had continued to grow it would be a gas giant that could have become a sun and the moons would give it its own solar system.
-
Ganymede
Ganymede is considered to be the largest moon within our solar system and the ninth largest object in the solar system.
-
Callisto
Callisto is the second largest moon orbiting Jupiter and is the third largest moon in our entire solar system.
-
Titan
Of Saturn’s 53 known moons, Titan is the largest and is also the second largest moon in our solar system. It’s also the only moon that has a cloud system and a dense atmosphere that is similar to what a planet would have.
-
Triton
Of Saturn’s 53 known moons, Titan is the largest and is also the second largest moon in our solar system. It’s also the only moon that has a cloud system and a dense atmosphere that is similar to what a planet would have.
-
Charon
Pluto was once considered to be one of the true planets within our solar system, however, due to the guidelines that define a planet, it was downgraded to a dwarf planet.
-
Rhea
Rhea is one of Saturn’s many moons and is known for being the second largest of all of them. While the biggest moon might be Titan, Rhea has a mean radius of 475 mi/764 km, which is fairly big compared to all of the other moons.
-
Iapetus
Saturn has 62 moons that are confirmed but only 53 have received official names. This makes the orbit of Saturn a rather crowded place.
-
Miranda
Both Uranus and Neptune are the ice giants in the outer location of our solar system. Uranus is 1.784 billion miles from the sun.
-
Enceladus
If you talk to any planetary scientist you will get their immediate attention when you mention the moon Enceladus.
-
Titania
Titania is the largest of the 27 known moons of Uranus and both planet and all of its moons are some of the furthest out in space.
