Weird worlds: The solar system’s 10 strangest moons
10 WONDERS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Moons may bow to planets in terms of size, but in character they often outshine their stolid parents. The named moons of the solar system outnumber planets by more than 20 to 1, and they display a remarkable diversity. There are fully fledged worlds such as Titan, as complex as any planet. There are possible havens for life, such as the ice-crusted water world Europa. New mysteries surround even the smallest satellites, most recently the apparent flying saucers orbiting Saturn.
This year it will be four centuries since Galileo discovered Jupiter’s four large satellites, at a stroke quintupling the number of moons then known to humanity.
Join Stephen Battersby for a tour of some of the most frigid, violent and downright strange worlds we have discovered since then.
THE ICY INFERNO
Pockmarked with sulphurous pits, bathed in intense radiation and shaken by constant volcanic eruptions, Io is the fiery hell of the solar system.Read more
THE WALNUT
Even a cursory glance at Saturn’s moon Iapetus reveals it to be an oddball. For one thing it is two-toned: one half is black, the other shining white.Read more
THE LIVING SNOWBALLS
The seemingly bleak icy surfaces of Europa, Enceladus and Triton are in fact among the most active landscapes in the solar system. They may even contain cosy habitats for living creatures.Read more
THE FLYING SAUCERS
Pan and Atlas come straight from a 1950s B-movie. With a central bulge set inside a disc-like ridge, they bear an uncanny resemblance to your stereotypical flying saucers.Read more
THE BOOMERANG
An otherwise undistinguished satellite of Neptune, moderately lumpy and middling in size, Nereid travels on the most eccentric orbit of any moon in the solar system.Read more
THE SECOND EARTH
It is perhaps the strangest of all moons because it is so eerily familiar. The newly revealed face of Titan has the same weather-beaten features as Earth.Read more
THE ORIGINAL AND BEST
Scores of moons have been discovered within our solar system, yet Earth’s companion still stands out as one of the most remarkable.Read more
AND THE REST
Which is the largest moon? Which moon was nearly upgraded to planet status? Find out here.Read more
AND BEYOND…
If our solar system holds so many remarkable moons, then what strange satellite worlds might we find among the billions of planetary systems in the Milky Way?Read more
Thanks TO: digg.com
No trackbacks yet.