Moons of the Solar System.
A moon is a natural satellite rotating around a planet. There are 174 known natural moons orbiting planets, as of October 2008. One hundred sixty-eight of them orbit the “full-size” planets, and the other 6 orbit the smaller “dwarf planets.” Here are the planets and how many moons each has. The names of most of the important moons are listed as well.
Mercury: 0
Venus: 0,
Earth: 1 - Moon or Luna,
Mars: 2 - Deimos and Phobos.
Jupiter: 63 - Io, Thelxinoe, Thebe, Sinope, Pasiphae ,Mneme, Metis, Lysithea, Leta, Kore, Kallichore, Himalia, Helike, Hegemone, Ganymede, Europa, Eukelade, Elara, Cyllene, Carpo, Carme, Callisto, Aoede, Ananke, Amalthea, Adrastia.
Saturn: 62 - Ymir, Titan, Thrymr, Tethys, Telesto, Tarvos, Rhea, Prometheus, Pandora, Pan, Pallene, Narvi, Mimas, Methone, Erriapo, Epimetheus, Dione, Calypso, and Atlas.
Uranus: 27 - Umbriel, Titania, Sycorax, Rosalind, Puck, Portia, Ophelia, Oberon, Miranda, Juliet, Desdemona, Cressida, Cordelia, Caliban, Bianca, Balinda, and Ariel.
Neptune:13 - Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Naiad, Nereid, Proteus, Thalassa, and Triton.
Pluto: 3 - Charon, Nix, and Hydra.
Haumea: 2 - Namaka and Hi’iaka
Ceres: 0
Makemake: 0
Eris: 1 - Dysnomia
Moons are split into two categories called regular and irregular satellites. Regular satellites are natural satellites which orbit relatively close to their primary or parent, body, orbit in the same direction as their parent body spins, orbit in the same plane as their primary, and have near circular orbit. Irregular satellites are natural satellites which exhibit one or more of the following: orbit distantly from their parent body, orbit in the opposite direction to their primary’s spin, orbit in a plane which is significantly inclined compared to that of their parent body’s, and have a noticeably elliptical orbit.
Here are some interesting facts about some of the moons:
Ganymede is the largest known moon, and 9th largest body in our solar system ( it’s bigger than the planet Mercury!)
Europa has a crust made largely of ice, and there is speculation that there might be an ocean underneath.
Io is the most volcanically active body in our solar system.
Titan has an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s.
Triton is the only large moon in the Solar System to have a retrograde orbit around it’s parent.
Earth's moon ( Luna) is the largest moon in the Solar System relative to its parent.
Moons, also called satellites, come in many different shapes, sizes, and types. They are generally solid bodies, and few have atmospheres.Most of the planetary moons probably formed from discs of gas and dust circulating around planets from the early Solar System.
Phobos is slowly drawing closer to Mars and could crash into the planet in 40 to 50 million years, or the planet's gravity might break Phobos apart, creating a thin ring around Mars. Most of the moons in our Solar System are named after mythological characters from a wide variety of cultures.
Resources
<http://blogstronomy.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-are-moons-formed-where-do-moons.html>
<http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/moons_table.html>