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Low orbits. Through a study of many lunar orbiting satellites, scientists have discovered that most low lunar orbits (LLO) are unstable. [5] Four frozen lunar orbits have been identified at 27°, 50°, 76°, and 86° inclination. NASA described this in 2006: Lunar mascons make most low lunar orbits unstable ... As a satellite passes 50 or 60 ...
Of the Solar System's eight planets and its nine most likely dwarf planets, six planets and seven dwarf planets are known to be orbited by at least 300 natural satellites, or moons. At least 19 of them are large enough to be gravitationally rounded; of these, all are covered by a crust of ice except for Earth's Moon and Jupiter's Io . [ 1 ]
Pluto's four other moons, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, and Styx, are far smaller and orbit the Pluto–Charon system. Haumea has two moons with radii estimated around 155 km and 85 km . Makemake has one known moon, S/2015 (136472) 1, estimated to be some 160 kilometers (100 mi) in diameter.
This discovery image shows the new Uranian moon S/2023 U1 using the Magellan telescope on November 4, 2023. Uranus (upper left) is just off the field of view.
In the Solar System, all planets, comets, and asteroids are in such orbits, as are many artificial satellites and pieces of space debris. Moons by contrast are not in a heliocentric orbit but rather orbit their parent object. Geocentric orbit: An orbit around the planet Earth, such as that of the Moon or of artificial satellites.
A montage of Jupiter and its four largest moons (distance and sizes not to scale) There are 95 moons of Jupiter with confirmed orbits as of 5 February 2024. [1] [note 1] This number does not include a number of meter-sized moonlets thought to be shed from the inner moons, nor hundreds of possible kilometer-sized outer irregular moons that were only briefly captured by telescopes. [4]
There are 293 confirmed moons in our cosmic neighborhood. By studying these worlds, astronomers hope to learn about ancient asteroid collisions, space volcanoes, and the origins of life itself.
Solar system diagram by Emanuel Bowen in 1747, when neither Uranus, Neptune, nor the asteroid belts had yet been discovered. Orbits of planets are to scale, but the orbits of moons and the sizes of bodies are not. The term "Solar System" entered the English language by 1704, when John Locke used it to refer to the Sun, planets, and comets. [288]