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Irregular moons are probably minor planets that have been captured from surrounding space. Most irregular moons are less than 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in diameter. The earliest published discovery of a moon other than Earth's was by Galileo Galilei, who discovered the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610. Over the following three ...
Planets around other stars are likely to have satellites as well, and although numerous candidates have been detected to date, none have yet been confirmed. Of the inner planets, Mercury and Venus have no natural satellites; Earth has one large natural satellite, known as the Moon; and Mars has two tiny natural satellites, Phobos and Deimos.
Although the Moon is Earth's only natural satellite, there are a number of near-Earth objects (NEOs) with orbits that are in resonance with Earth. These have been called "second" moons of Earth or "minimoons". [2] [3] 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, an asteroid discovered on 27 April 2016, is possibly the most stable quasi-satellite of Earth. [4]
An extraterrestrial vortex is a vortex that occurs on planets and natural satellites other than Earth that have sufficient atmospheres. Most observed extraterrestrial vortices have been seen in large cyclones, or anticyclones. However, occasional dust storms have been known to produce vortices on Mars and Titan. [1]
The study of extraterrestrial atmospheres is an active field of research, [1] both as an aspect of astronomy and to gain insight into Earth's atmosphere. [2] In addition to Earth, many of the other astronomical objects in the Solar System have atmospheres. These include all the giant planets, as well as Mars, Venus and Titan.
The ecliptic remains within 3° of the invariable plane over five million years, [2] but is now inclined about 23.44° to Earth's celestial equator used for the coordinates of poles. This large inclination means that the declination of a pole relative to Earth's celestial equator could be negative even though a planet's north pole (such as ...
By RYAN GORMAN Scientists may have found Planet X -- the long-rumored object believed to be larger than Earth and further from the sun than Pluto. Planet X and another object dubbed "Planet Y ...
Orbital decay is a gradual decrease of the distance between two orbiting bodies at their closest approach (the periapsis) over many orbital periods.These orbiting bodies can be a planet and its satellite, a star and any object orbiting it, or components of any binary system.