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Galileo [9] [10] discovered the Galilean moons. These satellites were the first celestial objects that were confirmed to orbit an object other than the Sun or Earth. Galileo saw Io and Europa as a single point of light on 7 January 1610; they were seen as separate bodies the following night. [11] Callisto: Jupiter IV o: 8 January 1610 p: 13 ...
17 August 1970 First Venus lander and the first spacecraft to "soft" land on another planet (with some data returned from the surface) [18] [161] [162] Luna 16: 12 September 1970 First robotic lunar sample return [10] [163] Zond 8: 20 October 1970 Lunar flyby and return to Earth [46] [164] [165] Luna 17/Lunokhod 1: 10 November 1970 First remote ...
Over the following three centuries, only a few more moons were discovered. Missions to other planets in the 1970s, most notably the Voyager 1 and 2 missions, saw a surge in the number of moons detected, and observations since the year 2000, using mostly large, ground-based optical telescopes, have discovered many more, all of which are irregular.
Astronomers have also discovered quasi-moons, which orbit the sun alongside larger objects. Earth currently has an estimated seven quasi-moons—one of which, Kamo‘oalewa, is thought to be a ...
The new discovery increases the moons orbiting the "jewel of our solar system" to 82, surpassing Jupiter
2015 – New Horizons spacecraft flies by Pluto, providing the first ever sharp images of its surface, and its largest moon Charon. [245] 2017 – 'Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object crossing the Solar System, is identified. [246] 2019 – Closest approach of New Horizons to Arrokoth, a KBO farther than Pluto. [247]
The innermost and largest moon, Charon, was discovered by James Christy on 22 June 1978, nearly half a century after Pluto was discovered. This led to a substantial revision in estimates of Pluto's size, which had previously assumed that the observed mass and reflected light of the system were all attributable to Pluto alone.
The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the sterile worlds scientists have long thought. New study on moons of Uranus raises chance of life Skip to main content