We know that planets orbit stars and moons orbit planets, but did you also know that a moon can have an orbiting moon of its own? Scientists have yet to actually discover one, but they suspect that moonmoons must exist, as some moons in our solar system are bigger than actual planets, and most planets have moons!
Many moons
Of all the planets in our solar system, Saturn is the one with the most moons. At last count, Saturn had 82 moons, with Jupiter coming a very close second with a total of 79.
A flying visit
We’re able to swim in water because it is denser than air, so, in theory, if you had very thick air you could swim in it too – also known as flying! Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has an incredibly thick atmosphere combined with very low gravity. These conditions mean that if you made a set of wings and started flapping you would take off!
The total number of moons belonging to the various planets and dwarf planets in our solar system.
A change of direction
Triton is the largest of Neptune’s moons. It’s about the size of Earth’s moon. Triton is the only moon of its size in the solar system with a retrograde orbit – that’s when the moon orbits in the opposite direction to its planet’s rotation.
The total number of asteroids in the solar system. These asteroids are mostly just chunks of rock that orbit the Sun; however, if they become captured by a planet’s gravitational field and pulled into its orbit these rocks can become moons!
Jupiter’s moon, Io, has hundreds of volcanoes. Because of the incredibly strong gravitational forces on Io, the eruptions from these volcanoes can cause fountains of molten lava to explode up to 100 metres into the sky!
