Moons Of The Planets

As we all know Neil Armstrong was the first person to step on the moon but can you imagine how difficult it would have been to land a person on the moon if Earth had 82 moons like Saturn!!

In ancient times the moon was considered a mysterious astronomical object soaring through the sky at night. However, after the telescope was invented things made more sense. So, what exactly is a moon? A moon is a celestial body that orbits around the majestic planets and the dwarf planets as well. The first moons to be discovered outside of the Earth’s moon were the Galilean moons of Jupiter, named after astronomer and discoverer Galileo Galilei.

The moons have captivating names. Some are named after mythological characters while some after their founders. For ex: Phobos and Deimos. The two small moons of Mars were named after two mythical horses.

Mercury and Venus are the only planets with no moons.

Our Earth has only one satellite, that is, the moon. It is called with various names. ‘Luna’ is Italian, Latin, and Spanish. ‘Lune’ in French, ‘Mond’ in German, and "Selene" in Greek. The moon has mountains, plains, and depressions on its surface.

Mars consists of 2 moons. The planet was named after the god of war after the Roman myth told how it rode on two horses known as Phobos and Deimos, meaning fear and panic (which are the names of its moons).

Jupiter has numerous moons. It has 53 named moons and another 26 awaiting official names. Combined, 79 moons. The four largest include; Europa, Ganymede, Lo, and Callisto which were discovered by Galileo in 1610 and are known as the Galilean Satellites.

Saturn is the planet that holds the record for the most moons, 82!! Imagine seeing countless moons in the night sky! 53 of them have been confirmed and named, while 29 are awaiting official recognition. With a diameter of around 10 times bigger than Earth's moon, Saturn's moon system is as big as a sports facility.

Uranus has 27 moons. While many of the satellites orbiting Earth have their names are taken from popular mythologies, some of them are unique, such as those orbiting Uranus who have been named for Shakespearean characters, along with some of the moons being named for characters from the works of Alexander Pope.

Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun and is known to have 14 moons.

So that’s all about the moons, the fascinating bodies orbiting planets.