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Know about the moons of the solar system and giant impact hypothesis explaining the formation of the Earth's Moon

Explore the phases of the Moon and their effectiveness in tracking time

Interactive: A Tour of the Moon's Landmarks.

False-colour image of Saturn. Three of its satellites (Tethys, Dione, and Rhea) are visible as bright points on the left; a fourth moon, Mimas, can be seen in front of Saturn, below the ring system. This image is based on observations made by the Voyager spacecraft.

Three of the satellites of Uranus discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft are shown in an image taken Jan. 18, 1986.The largest of the satellites, 1986U1 (lower right), is about 90 km (55 miles) in diameter. In the upper right is the outermost ring of Uranus.

Discover facts about the Moon with an explanation of the supermoon phenomenon

False-colour images of the ring and satellites of Saturn, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, Nov. 21, 1995. The satellite Dione appears just above the rings in the first two images; Mimas is visible at the outer edge of the rings; and other moons are visible near Saturn's disk on the right.

Quizzes

The orbits of the planets and other elements of the solar system, including asteroids, Kuiper belt, Oort cloud, comet

Space Odyssey

1 July 2002: The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite reveals a massive solar eruption more than 30 times the Earth's diameter. The eruption formed when a loop of a magnetic field over the surface of the Sun trapped hot gas.

Brightest Star in the Solar System

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy

moon

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Written by

Erik Gregersen

Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...

Erik Gregersen

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Related Topics:: Moon; libration; Roche limit; co-orbital satellite; shepherd satellite

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moon, any naturalsatellite orbiting another body. In thesolar system there are 416 moons orbiting theplanets.Earth,Mars,Jupiter,Saturn,Uranus, andNeptune have 1, 2, 95, 274, 28, and 16 moons, respectively. Other bodies in the solar system, such asdwarf planets,asteroids, andKuiper belt objects, also have moons. No moons haveyet been discovered aroundextrasolar planets. The solar system’s moons range in size from tens of metres across, the diameter of small bodies inorbit around asteroids, to 5,262 km (3,270 miles), the diameter of Jupiter’s moonGanymede.

Some moons are of interest because they have conditions that may be favourable forlife. For example, Jupiter’s moonEuropa has an ocean underneath its icy surface. Saturn’s moonEnceladus hasgeysers that spew outwater andorganic molecules.

During nineApollo space missions, 24 astronauts (all Americans) went to Earth’sMoon, and 12 of themwalked on its surface. With the launch of theArtemis space program in 2017,NASA aims to return humans to the Moon by 2027, with the goal of establishing asustainable presence there and on other planets.

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