28.3 Satellites of Other Planets Std 1F: Know the evidence for the dramatic effects that asteroid impacts have had in shaping the surface of planets. Objective 1: Compare the characteristics of the two moons of Mars. Objective 2: Name one distinguishing characteristic of each of the Galilean moons. Objective 3: Compare the characteristics of the rings of Saturn with the rings of the other outer planets.
Moons of Mars Mercury and Venus do not have moons. Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune all have rings. Mars has 2 moons (Phobos and Deimos) Have irregularly shapes Surfaces are dark and have many craters Possibly captured asteroids
Moons of Jupiter Galilean moon - any one of the four largest satellites of Jupiter—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto - discovered by Galileo in 1610 3 are larger than Earth’s moon!
Io The innermost moons 1st extraterrestrial body to have active volcanoes Eject thousands of metric tons of material each second.
Europa 2nd closest Galilean moon to Jupiter The size of Earth’s moon (less dense.) Rock core with a crust of ice that is about 100 km thick. Liquid water may exists under the ice. If liquid water exists, life forms could exist
Ganymede 3rd Galilean moon from Jupiter The largest moon in the solar system Small mass (composed of ice mixed with rock) The surface has dark, crater-filled areas, and light areas that may be ridges and valleys.
Callisto The farthest Galilean moon from Jupiter. Callisto is similar to Ganymede size, density, and composition Most densely cratered moons in our solar system.
Moons of Saturn Saturn has over 30 moons (5 moons are large) Saturn’s largest moon is Titan diameter >5,000 km. Titan’s thick atmosphere = mainly of nitrogen.
Moons of Uranus and Neptune Uranus’s moons (4 largest moons ) Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, and Ariel Discovered by mid-1800’s. Miranda(5th moon) was discovered in 1948 Has over 12 moons. Neptune (8 moons) Triton revolves around Neptune in a retrograde orbit.
Pluto’s Moon Charon is 1/2 the size of Pluto Some scientists consider them to be a double-planet system. Charon orbit around Pluto = 6.4 day Pluto’s day (rotation) = 6.4 day Pluto. Day = rotation means Charon stays in the same place in Pluto’s sky.
Rings of the Gas Giants Saturn’s rings Jupiter discovered over 300 years ago Made of billions of pieces of rock and ice Jupiter Thin ring made of microscopic particles given off by Io. Uranus has a dozen thin rings. Neptune’s relatively small number of rings are clumpy rather than thin and uniform.