Earth’s sky is lit by one natural satellite, the Moon. This was the case 4.5 billion years ago, and this should, a priori, not change. But let’s imagine that our planet has inherited several moons. How many of them can we observe in the sky without modifying the Earth’s orbital conditions?
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[EN VIDÉO] Europa, a habitable moon in the solar system Europa is one of Jupiter’s four major moons. It is home to an ocean of icy water, and scientists believe life could be there.
our solar system It has eight planets, plus a few dwarf planets, such as Pluto where Ceres. But we often forget to consider that they are not traveling alone in their constant race around Sun. Most of them are already accompanied by one or more natural satellites. If the names of some of these satellites are now known to the general public, such as EuropeAnd the Ganymede where TitanHowever, their number is much more important than that.
Our solar system has more than 200 moons! Almost all orbit around the four gas giants And only three find themselves affiliated with rocky planets. this is our the moon and the moon of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. Mercury And the Venus It has no natural satellites. This amazing difference between the two types of planets will not be unnatural, the presence of moons in orbit around a planet is closely related to the mechanisms of its formation and processes of orbit evolution. Parameters that differ significantly between small planets Rock and gas giants.
Several moons around the earth? physically possible situation
However, the state of the Earth is very interesting, because our planet has one moon, its The size is surprisingly large. A property resulting from the violent birth of our satellite, after the collision between the young Earth and another protoplanet called clothes.
But can our planet have multiple moons? This is the question the researchers asked themselves. by accounts and modeling Digital, the team of scientists focused more specifically on the maximum number of natural satellites that could theoretically orbiting around the Earth without modifying the current conditions for orbital stability. If this type of research seems far-fetched, it nevertheless allows us to better understand the processes of planet formation in general, as well as to understand the gravitational balances of planetary systems.
The results are published in the journal Astrophysics of Earth and Planets, shows that the maximum number of moons that can orbit the Earth depends on their respective sizes. And so our sky can be illuminated, at will, by seven or eight moons the size of Ceres, four or five moons the size of Pluto, or even three or even four moons the size of our present moon.
Exomoons are still hard to recognize
Can not do more without changing the conditions orbitals of the Earth and thus jeopardize its development and in particularAppearance of from life. Thus, this study makes it possible to estimate the maximum number of satellites capable of orbiting a planet without destabilizing it.
Thus, the results of this study can facilitate the identification of the presence of small moons orbiting around itouter planets Earth size rocks. Because, if the number of discovered exoplanets continues to increase today, Only two outer satellites have been identified so far. However, its size exceeds the size of the Earth and the planets orbiting around it of the type Jupiter. But scientists are optimistic: The next few decades should bring their share of new outer moons of even smaller sizes.
Pluto and its moon Charon Above and in the background, an image of Pluto (radius 1,185 km) in near-true color and in the foreground, lower right, an image of its main moon Charon (607 km radius) in false color taken by the New Horizons probe in July. 14, 2015. © NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute, CC0
Saturn and its moon Dione Dion is one of Saturn’s moons that was discovered by Jean-Dominique Cassini in 1684. It was photographed closely by the Cassini probe. ©NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute, CC0
Saturn and its moon Ipetus Iapetus is the third largest satellite of Saturn. Iapetus is primarily known for its dark colouration, with one hemisphere of its brain being particularly bright while the other is very dark. However, some explanations have been offered. © NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute PD
Saturn and its moon Pandora With 103 x 79 x 64 km, Pandora, one of Saturn’s moons, was only discovered in 1980 on Voyager 1 images. Shown here on a Cassini image. ©NASA, CC0
Saturn and its moon Rhea Rhea is the second largest satellite of Saturn after Titan. Photographed here by the Cassini probe. ©NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute, CC0
Saturn and its moon Titan Titan (5,151 km in diameter) is Saturn’s largest moon. Here we see a reconstructed image of Titan’s infrared surface through its atmosphere seen by the Cassini probe. © NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/University of Idaho, CC0
Saturn and Hyperion satellites Hyperion is a mysterious satellite of the planet Saturn with an average diameter of 270 km. Its rotation is messy. The image was taken by the Cassini probe. ©NASA, CC0
Saturn and its moon Thetys Saturn’s moon, Thetys, is in the foreground of this montage of images taken by the Cassini spacecraft. © Nasa / JPL / SSI / Gordan Ugarkovic CC by-sa 2.5
Mars and its satellite Deimos A view of the Deimos satellite, of Mars, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). © NASA
Mars and Phobos satellite Phobos is the largest of the two Mars satellites and is the closest. It was imaged here at a resolution of 7 meters per pixel, by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe’s HRSC camera. © Bank of Imágenes Geologicas, CC by 2.0
Neptune and its moon Triton Triton is the largest natural satellite of Neptune’s 14, seen at top left in these images taken by the Voyager 2 probe in 1989. There are ice volcanoes on Triton. © NASA/A. Typhoon Oner, CC0; NASA/JPL CC0
Jupiter and its moon Callisto Callisto is one of Jupiter’s major moons. It is believed to have an ocean beneath its surface, and it will be closely studied by the juice probe. Galileo’s picture here. © Nasa / JPL / DLR (German Aerospace Center) CC0
Jupiter and its moon Europa Europa is one of Jupiter’s major moons. It is covered by a global ocean under an ice shelf, no less than a few kilometers thick. Life can exist in this ocean, near hydrothermal vents. The image here is from images taken by the Galileo probe. © NASA/JPL-Caltech/DLR, CC0
Jupiter and its moon Io Io, volcanic, has many active volcanoes. See here an image taken by the Galileo probe. ©NASA/JPL/USGS, CC0
earth and moon An image of the moon taken by the LRO probe. ©NASA, CC0
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