Moon count?

[pioneer0333]

What is the actual number of moons in our solar system? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[vogon13]

2 more than a week ago. And more to come.<br /><br />Sorry to be flip, but what an exciting time for those of us enamored of such things.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[newtonian]

vogon13 - I will give the 1991 count from "The World of Science," Volume 7. <br /><br />Please add the new moons to this list: <br /><br />The closest planets to the sun, Mercury and Venus, have no moons - 0.<br /><br />Earth has one moon - 1. What is its name??????<br /><br />Mars has two moons: Phobos, Deimos - 2<br /><br />Jupiter has 16 moons:<br /><br />Larger moons:<br /><br />Ganymede<br />Callisto<br />Europa<br />Io<br /><br />Smaller moons: <br /><br />Amalthea<br />1979 J1<br />1979 J2<br />1979 J3<br />Leda<br />Himalia<br />Lysithea<br />Elara<br />Ananke<br />Carme<br />Pasiphae<br />Siniope<br /><br />Saturn has 21-23 moons (3 unnamed)<br /><br />The larger moons:<br /><br />Titan<br />Iapetus<br />Rhea<br />Dione<br />Tethys<br />Enceladus<br />Hyperion<br />Mimas<br />Phoebe<br /><br />Smaller moons:<br /><br />1980 S28<br />1980 S27<br />1980 S26<br />1980 S3<br />1980 S1<br />Mimas co-orbital<br />1980 S25<br />1980 S13<br />Tethys co-orbital<br />1980 S6<br />Dione co-orbital<br /><br />Uranus has 15 moons.<br /><br />10 tiny (not listed in this source)<br /><br />larger moons:<br /><br />Titania<br />Oberon<br />Ariel<br />Umbriel<br />Miranda<br /><br />Neptune - 2 (assume +):<br /><br />Triton (very large)<br />Nereid<br /><br />Pluto - one large moon: Charon<br /><br />That totals 58-60!<br /><br />You all - please update.<br />

 

[scull]

I think the official name for our Moon is Luna.<br /><br /><br />(as always I could be wrong)...

 

[vogon13]

Your list is short ~100 moons. Hence I don't keep track of that in sufficient detail anymore. IIRC, the post just asked about 'moons', I'm assuming asteroidal satellite info is desired too.<br />And there are like 30+ of those.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[mpai]

Moon is the name of satellite of Planet Earth. Of couse, at times, satellites of Jupiter are also known as Jovian moons etc. At the time of this post, besides Earth 1, Mars 2, Jupiter had 63 known satellites. Saturn 47, Uranus 27, Nepture 13 and Pluto 3. For a detailed listing check this link, which is regularly updated<br /><br />http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/satellites/<br /><br /><br />In addition to these several Trans Nepture Objects and KBO have their own satellites. <br /><br />If one goes by the broad defination of a satellite(excluding the artifician ones), then the satellite count could cross one thousand, as you will be compelled to include all asteroids and other minor planets as satellites ole Sol - our Sun. This is the subject of the debate for the IAU.<br /><br />I guess, we will soon be hearing from them.<br /><br />Clear skies<br /><br />Manoj Pai

 

[majornature]

I think our solar system has at least 78-88 known moons to date.<br /><br />Earth 1 moon<br />Mars 2 moons<br />Jupiter 30- 40 known moons (possible)<br />Saturn 23 known moons<br />Uranus 18 known moons<br />Neptune 2 known (so far)<br />Pluto 2 moons<br /><br />I watched a show called "95 moons and Counting"yesterday on the Discovery Science Channel. The website may have information you're looking for. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

I saw that one when it first aired. Wasn't it lovely? The CGI was wonderful, and very compelling. It definitely gave me a renewed interest in sending people to these places instead of just robots.<br /><br />Total count from my sources:<br /><br />Confirmed satellites of things commonly referred to as major planets:<br />Earth: 1 moon<br />Mars: 2 moons<br />Jupiter: 63 moons<br />Saturn: 47 moons<br />Uranus: 27 moons<br />Neptune: 13 moons<br />Pluto: 3 moons (the talk of two moons is two <i>new</i> moons, in addition to Charon <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> )<br /><br />I don't want to get into the "is Pluto a planet" debate right now. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> At any rate, this gives us 156 moons just for the traditional nine planets! <img src="/images/icons/shocked.gif" /><br /><br />Confirmed satellites of NEOs:<br />3671 Dionysus: 1 moon<br />2000 DP107: 1 moon<br /><br />Confirmed satellites of main-belt asteroids:<br />22 Kalliope: 1 moon<br />45 Eugenie: 1 moon<br />87 Sylvia: 2 moons<br />90 Antiope: 1 moon<br />107 Camilla: 1 moon<br />121 Hermione: 1 moon<br />130 Elektra: 1 moon<br />243 Ida: 1 moon (first satellite of a minor planet to be discovered)<br />283 Emma: 1 moon<br />379 Huenna: 1 moon<br />1509 Esclangona: 1 moon<br />3749 Balam: 1 moon<br /><br />Confirmed satellites of Jupiter Trojans:<br />617 Patroclus: 1 moon<br /><br />Confirmed satellites of Trans-Neptunian Objects:<br />26308 1998 SM165: 1 moon<br />47171 1999 TC36: 1 moon<br />1998 WW31: 1 moon<br />2003 UB313: 1 moon<br /><br />Including the minor planets, it's 176 confirmed so far. That's a lot of satellites.<br /><br />Note: by "confirmed" I mean that the IAU has conferred a formal designation on it. This may or may not include an actual name. I have not included artificial satellites. Some of the minor planets in the list do not have names, and some don't even have numbers yet. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[newtonian]

scull - Yes, I agree luna or lunar is a title (name?) of earth's moon.<br /><br />This reminds me of the following questions:<br /><br />1. What is an insect found on the moon?<br /><br />2. What sea is found on the moon?<br /><br />Hint: a crazy person.<br /><br />Answers:<br /><br />1. The lunar tick (aka lunatic).<br /><br />2. Lunar sea (aka lunacy)

 

[mpai]

You are right CalliArcale. Thanks for the update. However Newtonian had the last word. ;-)<br />

 

[mpai]

CalliArcale, I found one more interesting link depicting the Natural Satellite Physical Parameters. <br /><br />http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sat_props.html#ref61<br /><br />But it does not include the new pair of satellites of Pluto. At the time of this post, the last update reads as November 30, 2005. Maybe it will updated later.<br /><br />Wishes<br /><br />Manoj

 

[vogon13]

You could ask about Toro and Cruithne, too . . . . . .<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>