Moons of the Solar System Flashcards
Jovian moon named after the lover of Zeus who was turned into a cow and was (after being restored to humanity) the ancestress of heroes, including Heracles
Io
The innermost and larger of the two natural satellites of Mars
Phobos
This moon is believed to have a water ocean beneath its surface and is believed to be one of the most likely places to find extraterrestrial life in our Solar System
Europa
Jovian moon named after the Trojan hero who was kidnapped by Zeus in the form of an eagle to be cupbearer to the gods
Ganymede
Jovian moon named after the mythological figure who was abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull
Europa
Moon of Orcus, named after a winged female demon of the Etruscan underworld
Vanth
Person credited with discovering Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Mimas and Uranus’s moons Titania and Oberon
Herschel
The second-largest moon in the Solar System
Titan
The only moon known to have a dense atmosphere
Titan
Number of known moons of Jupiter
95
The only moon known to have a magnetic field
Ganymede
Moon of Mars named for the Greek god who is the son of Ares and Aphrodite and is the personification of terror/dread
Deimos
The second-largest of Saturn’s moons; named for the mother of the gods in Greek mythology
Rhea
The two missions, launched in 1977 to the outer solar system, that discovered a large number of moons
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2
The largest and most massive of the Solar System’s moons
Ganymede
The surface of this moon is the oldest and most heavily cratered in the Solar System
Callisto
This moon has the smoothest surface of any known solid object in the Solar System
Europa
Person credited with discovering Saturn’s moon Titan in 1655
Huygens
The only known moon of the dwarf planet Eris; named for the daughter of the goddess Eris who was the personification of lawlessness/anarchy
Dysnomia
The second-largest moon of Jupiter
Callisto
This dwarf planet’s two known moons, Hiʻiaka and Namaka, are named after Hawaiian goddesses
Haumea
The only large moon in the Solar System with a retrograde orbit
Triton
The smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter,
Europa
A moon of Pluto, named for the dog that guards the Underworld of Greek mythology
Kerberos
The smallest of the Plutonian moons, named for a river in the Underworld in Greek mythology
Styx
Moon of Mars named for the Greek god who is the son of Ares and Aphrodite and is the personification of fear
Phobos
The largest of the Uranian moons; named from a fairy in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Titania
The second-largest of the Uranian moons; named from a fairy in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Oberon
The most geologically active object in the Solar System as a result of tidal heating
Io
Planet whose moons are named after characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock
Uranus
The outermost of the Plutonian moons, named for a monstrous serpent of Greek mythology
Hydra
First asteroid moon to be discovered, by the Galileo probe in 1993, orbiting Ida; named for the mythological creatures that inhabited Mount Ida
Dactyl
Person credited with discovering Neptune’s moon Triton just 17 days after the discovery of Neptune itself; also independently co-discovered Saturn’s moon Hyperion and Uranus’s moons Ariel and Umbriel.
Lassell
The largest of Saturn’s moons
Titan
The largest of the Neptunian moons; named for a Greek god who was the messenger of the sea and a son of Poseidon
Triton
Because of its orbit and composition, this large moon is thought to have been a dwarf planet captured from the Kuiper belt
Triton
The smaller and outermost of the two natural satellites of the planet Mars
Deimos
Person credited with discovering Jupiter’s moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto in 1610
Galileo
The innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter
Io
The largest of the Plutonian moons
Charon
Moon mapped by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft; the Huygens probe landed on the surface
Titan
A moon of Pluto, named for the Greek goddess of the night
Nix
Person credited with discovering Saturn’s moons Iapetus (1671), Rhea (1672), and Tethys and Diona (1684)
Cassini
Name of the lander that landed on Titan
Huygens (from the Cassini mission)
Person credited with discovering the two small moons of Mars
Hall
Moon of Saturn known for its cryovolcanoes which shoot geyser-like jets of water vapor; named for the giant who was the opponent of Athena in Greek mythology
Enceladus
First asteroid to have a confirmed moon (Dactyl); named for a nymph from Greek mythology
Ida
Jovian moon named after the nymph and follower of Artemis who was seduced by Zeus and transformed by a jealous Hera into a bear (Ursa Major)
Callisto
Trans-Neptunian object orbited by the moon Vanth and named for the Etruscan god of the underworld
Orcus
The largest of the inner Jovian satellites and the largest and first to be discovered after the Galilean moons; named for the nymph who was the foster mother of Zeus
Amalthea
