Abstract
The term “natural satellite” most commonly refers to a body such as the Moon orbiting a planet, but it also applies to bodies orbiting minor planets (P 11), dwarf planets (P 9), and Kuiper belt objects (P 21). As of 2018, 187 satellites are known to orbit the planets of our Solar System, as well as over 300 that orbit minor planets and four that orbit dwarf planets. 12 new satellites of Jupiter were announced in 2018 alone, giving it a grand total of 79 (for now!). 58 satellites orbiting Kuiper belt objects have been discovered thus far, including the six largest of those distant denizens. Planetary satellites in our Solar System range in size from several thousand miles in diameter (including our Moon, the four Galilean moons of Jupiter, Saturn’s Titan, and Neptune’s Triton) to 10 miles for the two moons of Mars, and even smaller for some satellites embedded in planetary rings (P 7).
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Notes
- 1.
Joseph A. Burns and Mildred Shapley Matthews, eds., “Some Background About Satellites,” in Satellites (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1986), pp. 1–38, especially pp. 16–19 for satellite classification. This classification has been adopted by other astronomers, e.g., Nicolas Thomas, “Physical Processes Associated with Planetary Satellites,” in I. P. William and N. Thomas, eds., Solar and Extrasolar Planetary Systems (Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer, 2001), pp. 173–190.
- 2.
Galileo Galilei, Sidereus Nuncius, or The Sidereal Messenger, translated with introduction, conclusion and notes by Albert van Helden (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1989), pp. 64–86. See also Dick (2013), pp. 34–39.
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Michael E. Brown et al, “Satellites of the Largest Kuiper Belt Objects,” ApJ, vo. 639 (March 1, 2006), L43–L46.
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Frank Postberg et al., “Macromolecular organic compounds from the depths of Enceladus,” Nature, 558 (2018), 564–568.
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HST Release, “Astronomers Find First Evidence of Possible Moon Outside Our Solar System,” http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2018-45
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Galileo Galilei to Grand Duke Cosimo II, in Sidereus Nuncius, or The Sidereal Messenger, translated by Albert van Helden (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), p. 102. Albert van Helden, “Annulo Cingitur: the Solution of the Problem of Saturn,” JHA, 5 (1974), 155–174, and “Saturn and his Anses,” JHA, (1974)5, 105–121. Stephen G. Brush, Elizabeth Garber and C. W. F. Everitt, eds., Maxwell on Saturn’s Rings (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983). See Dick (2013), pp. 39–42 for more details on Galileo’s discovery and its aftermath.
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J. L. Elliot, E. Dunham, E. and D. Mink, D. (1977), The rings of Uranus,” Nature, 267 (1977), 328–330; Elliott, Dunham and R. L. Millis, “Discovering the rings of Uranus,” S&T, 53 (1977), 412–416.
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The discovery is announced in B. A. Smith, L. A. Soderblom, T. V. Johnson, et al., “The Jupiter System Through the Eyes of Voyager 1,” Science, 204 (1979): 951–957, 960–972. The classic volume on planetary ring studies in the wake of Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1 and 2 was Rick Greenberg and Andre Brahic, Planetary Rings (Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press, 1984). That has now been updated and to some extent superseded by M. S. Tiscareno and C. D. Murray, eds., Planetary Ring Systems (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2017), which also takes into account Galileo, Cassini and other spacecraft observations. A very useful diagram comparing planetary ring systems is found on page 7.
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B. A. Smith, L. A. Soderblom, D. Banfield, et al., “Voyager 2 at Neputne: Imaging Science Results,” Science 246 (1989), 1422
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Carolyn Porco, “Planetary Rings,” in Paul R. Weissman, Lucy-Ann McFadden and Torrence V. Johnson, Encyclopedia of the Solar System (Academic Press: San Diego, 1999), pp. 457–475. For another pre-Cassini view of planetary rings see Larry W. Esposito, “Planetary Rings,” Reports on Progress in Physics, 65 (2002), 1741–1783.
- 11.
On the Grand Finale results, including the closest imagery of the rings, see Keith T. Smith et al., “Diving Within Saturn’s Rings,” Science, 362 (October 5, 2018), 44–51.
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The observations at Jupiter are described in Alan Stern and David Grinspoon, Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto (New York, Picador, 2018), pp. 175–181.
- 13.
NASA/Cassini Press Release, Dec. 12, 2007, “Saturn’s Rings May be Old Timers,” December 12, 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini20071212.html. The young age for Saturn’s rings is reported in Science, 358 (2017), 14113–1514.
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Geraint H. Jones et al., “The Dust Halo of Saturn’s Largest Icy Moon, Rhea,” Science, 319 (2008): 1380–1384; Matthew S. Tiscareno, Joseph A. Burns, Jeffrey N. Cuzzi, and Matthew M. Hedman, “Cassini imaging search rules out rings around Rhea,” Geophysical Research Letters, 37 (2010), L14205.
- 15.
For more on these concepts and the comparison of planetary surface magnetic fields and magnetospheres see Margaret Kivelson and Fran Bagenal, “Planetary Magnetospheres,” Encyclopedia of the Solar System, at http://www.igpp.ucla.edu/public/mkivelso/Publications/299-Encyclopedia%20519-540.pdf
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Early reports were James Van Allen et al., “Observation of High Intensity Radiation by Satellites 1958 Alpha and Gamma,” Jet Propulsion (Sept. 1958), 588–592, reprinted in part in Bartusiak, 477–483; Van Allen et al., “Radiation Observations with Satellite 1958,” J. Geophysical Research, 64 (1959), 271–286; and Van Allen and Louis Frank, “Radiation Around the Earth to a Radial Distance of 107,400 km,” Nature, 183 (1959), 430–434. For the context and more on Van Allen see Abigail Foerstner, James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles, (Iowa City: Univ. of Iowa Press, 2007).
- 17.
B. F. Burke and K. L. Franklin, “Observations of a Variable Radio Source Associated with the Planet Jupiter,” JGR, 60 (1955), 213–217; Frank Drake and S. Hvatum, “Non-thermal microwave radiation from Jupiter,” AJ, 64 (1959), 329–330; James A. Van Allen and Louis A. Frank, “Radiation Around the Earth to a Radial Distance of 107,400 km,” Nature, 183 (1959), 430–434. Bagenal et al, 2.
- 18.
James A. Van Allen, “Magnetospheres, Cosmic Rays and the Interplanetary Medium,” in The New Solar System, J. Kelly Beatty and Andrew Chaikin, eds. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3d edition, (1990), pp. 29–40: 32–33. For an online history of magnetospheric physics see physicist David Stern’s pages at http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/Intro.html
- 19.
E. Roussos et al, “Discovery of a transient radiation belt at Saturn,” Geophysical Research Letters, 35 (2008); Michele K. Dougherty et al., “Saturn’s magnetic field revealed by the Cassini Grand Finale,” Science, 362 (October 5, 2018), 46.
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Dick, S.J. (2019). The Circumplanetary Family. In: Classifying the Cosmos. Astronomers' Universe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10380-4_3
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