Moons of the 8 Planets

The Moons of the 8 Planets

Imagine how complicated the goal of NASA to reach the moon would be if Earth had 79 moons like Jupiter does.

Moons are also known as natural satellites that orbit a planet or asteroid. There are over 200 moons that vary in size and shape. Some have atmospheres, some have oceans and some moons even have moons that orbit them.

Let’s go through the planets and their moons.

Up first Mercury, which has a grand total of zero moons along with Venus.

Earth has one moon but it is a great moon and orbits the earth in 27.3 days and we walked on it.

Mars has two moons, Deimos and Phobos.

Deimos is smaller than Phobos which has a huge crater as a distinctive feature. They were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall.

Jupiter has 79 moons.

Here is a list of all of the names and detailed information.

Moons of Jupiter Scroll to the bottom of the page

Four of the largest moons Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, and Io,  were discovered by Galileo in 1610.

Io is very volcanic.

Europa's surface is mostly water ice, and there is evidence that it may be covering an ocean of water or slushy ice beneath.

Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system.

Callisto's surface is heavily cratered.

Saturn has 82 moons.

Here is a list of all of the names and detailed information.

Moons Saturn Scroll to the bottom of the page

Saturn's moons range in size from the giant moon Titan which is larger than mercury  to some moons only two or two kilometers in diameter.

Titan is the largest and spherical in shape while others have odd shapes like a sweet potato (Prometheus), a regular potato (Pandora), a spicy meatball (Janus), and even a sponge (Hyperion). 

Uranus has 27 moons.

Here is a list of all of the names and detailed information.

Moons of Uranus

 

Uranus' moons are unique in being named for Shakespearean characters.

Oberon and Titania are the largest moons of Uranus and were the first to be discovered by William Herschel in 1787.

Here is a picture of the 6 largest moons of Uranus

Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon

Neptune has 14 moons.

Here is a list of all of the names and detailed information.

Moons of Neptune

Triton is the largest of Neptune's 13 moons. It is one of the largest moons that orbit in the opposite direction of its planet's rotation―a retrograde orbit.

Here is a picture of the 7 innermost moons. Notice the difference in the size of the moons.

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