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Moons of Mars Gaspra Deimos Phobos Moons of Mars - Phobos Link to more pictures Phobos orbits Mars three times a day, and is so close to the planet's surface that in some locations on Mars it cannot always be seen. Phobos and Deimos appear to be composed of C-type rock, similar to blackish carbonaceous chondrite asteroids. Measurements of the day and night sides of Phobos show such extreme temperature variations that the sunlit side of the moon rivals a pleasant winter day in Chicago, while only a few kilometers away, on the dark side of the moon, the climate is more harsh than a night in Antarctica. High temperatures for Phobos were measured at 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-4 degrees Celsius) and lows at -170 degrees Fahrenheit (-112 degrees Celsius). This intense heat loss is likely a result of the fine dust on Phobos' surface, which is unable to retain heat. Phobos has no atmosphere. Moons of Mars - Phobos Its most prominent feature is the 6-mile crater Stickney, its impact causing streak patterns across the moon's surface. Moons of Mars - Deimos Deimos is the smaller of Mars' two moons. Being only 15 by 12 by 11 km in size, Deimos whirls around Mars every 30 hours. Deimos is a small lumpy, heavily cratered object. Its craters are generally smaller than 2.5 km in diameter, however, and it lacks the grooves and ridges seen on Phobos. Deimos is a dark body that appears to be composed of Ctype surface materials, similar to that of asteroids found in the outer asteroid belt. Moons of Jupiter Jupiter has 63 known moons. It’s four largest moons are called the Galilean satellites who cast shadows on Jupiter. They are named as: Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Three of the moons influence each other in an interesting way. Io is in a tug-of-war with Ganymede and Europa, and Europa's orbital period (time to go around Jupiter once) is twice Io's period, and Ganymede's period is twice that of Europa. In other words, every time Ganymede goes around Jupiter once, Europa makes two orbits and Io makes four orbits. The moons all keep the same face towards Jupiter as they orbit, meaning that each moon turns once on its axis for every orbit around Jupiter. For more info visit Nasa site: Moons of Jupiter Io Europa Ganymede Callisto Moons of Jupiter - Io Io is the third largest of Jupiter's moons, and the fifth one in distance from the planet. Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Io's surface is covered by sulfur in different colorful forms. As Io travels in its slightly elliptical orbit, Jupiter's immense gravity causes "tides" in the solid surface that rise 100 m (300 feet) high on Io, generating enough heat for volcanic activity and to drive off any water. Io's volcanoes are driven by hot silicate magma. It looks like a giant pizza covered with melted cheese and splotches of tomato and ripe olives, Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Io’s elliptical Orbit means continual changes in the tidal force from Jupiter View from Hubble Volcanic eruption Moons of Jupiter - Europa Europa's surface is mostly water ice, and there is evidence that it may be covering an ocean of water or slushy ice beneath. Europa is thought to have twice as much water as does Earth. Europa is smaller than Earth's moon. It is unique in the solar system, being thought to have a global ocean of water in contact with a rocky seafloor. It is extremely smooth and crisscrossed by fractures Europa has an extremely thin oxygen atmosphere -- far too thin to breathe Moons of Jupiter Ganymede Ganymede is the largest satellite in our solar system. Ganymede has 3main layers. 1. A sphere of metallic iron at the center (the core, which generates a magnetic field), 2. Spherical shell of rock (mantle) surrounding the core. 3. Spherical shell of mostly ice surrounding the rock shell and the core. The ice shell on the outside is very thick. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence of thin oxygen atmosphere on Ganymede in 1996. The atmosphere is far too thin to support life as we know it. Ganymede's surface is a mixture of two types of terrain. Forty percent of the surface of Ganymede is covered by highly cratered dark regions, and the remaining sixty percent is covered by a light grooved terrain, which forms intricate patterns across Ganymede. The term "sulcus," meaning a groove or burrow, is often used to describe the grooved features. Ganymede was discovered by Galileo Galilei https://About Ganymede Moons of Jupiter - Callisto Callisto is the third largest satellite in the solar system and is almost the size of Mercury. Its interior is probably similar to Ganymede except the inner rocky core is smaller, and this core is surrounded by a large icy mantle. Callisto's surface is the darkest of the Galileans, but it is twice as bright as our own Moon. Callisto's surface is extremely heavily cratered and ancient -- a visible record of events from the early history of the solar system. However, the very few small craters on Callisto indicate a small degree of current surface activity. Callisto is the most heavily cratered object in the solar system. It is thought to be a long dead world, with hardly any geologic activity on its surface. In fact, Callisto is the only body greater than 1000 km in diameter in the solar system that has shown no signs of undergoing any extensive resurfacing since impacts have molded its surface. With a surface age of about 4 billion years, Callisto has the oldest landscape in the solar system. Moons of Saturn 53 moons have been discovered orbiting Saturn, the sixth planet in our solar system. We will learn about the following 5 moons: 1. Mimas 2. Enceladus 3. Hyperion 4. Iapetus 5. Titan Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system Moons of Saturn - Mimas Less than 400 km in diameter, crater-covered Mimas is the smallest and innermost of Saturn's major moons. Its most distinguishing feature is a giant impact crater -named Herschel after the moon's discoverer -- which stretches a third of the way across the face of the moon, making it look like the Death Star from "Star Wars." Herschel Herschel is 130 km across, with outer walls about 5 km high and a central peak 6 km high. The impact that blasted this crater out of Mimas probably came close to breaking the moon apart. Its low density suggests that it consists almost entirely of water ice, which is the only substance ever detected on Mimas. Mimas is closer to Saturn and has more eccentric (elongated) orbit which means that Mimas has tidal heating. Mimas Rotation = 23 hours while it orbits Saturn exactly twice as often as the more distant moon Moons of Saturn - Enceladus Enceladus is only 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter, but despite its petite size, it's one of the most scientifically compelling bodies in our solar system. It is quite similar in size to Mimas, but has a smoother, brighter surface. Enceladus reflects almost 100 percent of the sunlight that strikes it. Several gases, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, perhaps a little ammonia and either carbon monoxide or nitrogen gas make up the gaseous envelope of the plume. Enceladus displays at least five different types of terrain. Parts of Enceladus shows craters no larger than 35 km in diameter. Other areas show regions with no craters, indicating major resurfacing events in the geologically recent past. There are fissures, plains, corrugated terrain, geysers that indicate that the interior of the moon may be liquid today, even though it should have frozen eons ago. It is possible Enceladus is heated by a tidal mechanism similar to Jupiter's moon Io Hundred geysers shooting ice particles miles into space from cracks in the south pole of Enceladus Moons of Saturn - Hyperion Hyperion is the largest known irregular (non-spherical) body in the solar system. Hyperion's average diameter is 270 km (168 miles), but since Hyperion is rather potato-shaped, its shape can be described in terms of its diameter along its three axes. Considering its odd shape, Hyperion is probably a remnant of a larger moon that was destroyed by a major impact. Hyperion shows extensive cratering because of its distance from Saturn as a result experienced very little tidal warming that might blur or erase earlier features. However, the Hyperion craters are particularly deep. The result is a curiously punched-in look, somewhat like the surface of a sponge or a wasp nest. Many of the crater walls on Hyperion are bright, which suggests an abundance of water ice. Hyperion shows a dull reddish color with a low reflectivity which could be due to frozen carbon dioxide complexed with frozen water and other molecules, such as hydrocarbons. Another contributor might be methane from Titan's atmosphere being stripped of its hydrogen by solar radiation and the resulting carbon dust making its way to Hyperion. A third possibility is that dark material from Phoebe may be coloring both Hyperion and Iapetus. A stronger effect on Hyperion's rotation is that it is in resonance with Saturn's largest moon, Titan, the two objects speed up and slow down as they pass each other in a complex set of variations. Because Hyperion is much smaller than Titan, its rotation and orbit are affected vastly more than the larger moon, and Titan apparently keeps the Hyperion orbit eccentric rather than growing more circular over time. Rotation = 13 days Revolution = 21 days Hyperion Orbit Moons of Saturn - Iapetus Iapetus has been called the yin and yang of the Saturn moons because its leading hemisphere has a reflectivity as dark as coal, with a slight reddish tinge and its trailing hemisphere is much brighter. Iapetus has a very slow rotation, longer than 79 days. Such a slow rotation means that the daily temperature cycle is very long, so long that the dark material can absorb heat from the sun and warm up. This heating will cause any volatile, or icy, species within the dark material to sublime out, and retreat to colder regions on Iapetus. The great distance from Saturn's tidal forces has unaffected any melting episodes that could have caused some smoothing or "resurfacing" as on some of the moons closer to Saturn. Iapetus is in resonance with Saturn's largest moon, Titan. That means that the two objects speed up and slow down as they pass each other in a complex set of variations. Moons of Saturn - Iapetus The second most notable feature of Iapetus is its "equatorial ridge," a chain of 10-km (6-mile) high mountains girdling the moon's equator. On the anti-Saturnian side of Iapetus, the ridge appears to break up and distinct, partially bright mountains are observed. Moons of Saturn - Titan Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system, 5,150 km (3,200 miles) across It is surrounded by a thick, golden haze, and only certain kinds of telescopes and cameras can see through the haze to the surface. Titan is of great interest to scientists because it has flowing liquids on its surface and a dense, complex atmosphere. Titan has been called the most earthlike world in the solar system because it has lakes, seas and flowing rivers on its surface, although the liquid is methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6) instead of water. Titan's atmosphere is approximately 95% nitrogen with traces of methane. While the Earth's atmosphere extends about 60 km (37 miles) into space, Titan's extends nearly 600 km (ten times that of the Earth's atmosphere) into space. One day on Titan (the time it takes for Titan to rotate or spin once) takes about 16 Earth days. The length of Titan's day is the same as the amount of time it takes Titan to orbit Saturn. Rotation = 16 earth days Revolution = 16 earth days https://Click for more info Moons of Neptune - Triton Triton is the largest of Neptune's 13 moons. It is unusual because it is the only large moon in our solar system that orbits in the opposite direction of its planet's rotation -- a retrograde orbit. Like our own moon, Triton is locked in synchronous rotation with Neptune -- one side faces the planet at all times. But because of its unusual orbital inclination both polar regions take turns facing the Sun. Triton's thin atmosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen with small amounts of methane. This atmosphere most likely originates from Triton's volcanic activity, which is driven by seasonal heating by the Sun. Triton, Io and Venus are the only bodies in the solar system besides Earth that are known to be volcanically active at the present time.