How many moons are there in the solar system?

I used this page as my source: http://www.kidsastronomy.com/other_worlds.htm

DJ

Shouldn't that be "How many discovered moons are there in the Solar system?"?

Same statement is probably true for the other poll methinks.

You could have at least voted!

DJ

Not a good guide. It quotes the number of Jovian moons as 28. It now stands as 60:

http://www.planetary.org/learn/solarsystem/moons.html

...and that's 127 planetary satellites right there...

...so, well, I can't vote either (even taking 'discovered moons' as read). And you should have said 'moons of major planets'. What about Dactyl, the moon of asteroid Ida that Galileo imaged? Other asteroids have been found to have companions too.

I'm sorry But there is a thoroughgoing problem here - the moon count is moving along so fast that even a poll with a top figure from March would be out of date now, see:

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~sheppard/...s/jup2003.html

And with Cassini zoning in on Saturn, you can bet that that will be right up there with Jupiter (or more) by the end of next year.

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Fin
Skep-ti-cult® member #488-28303-790

Lots.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

What's the definition of a moon again?

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"As I lay beneath the Southern Cross, the stars tell more than I could" . . . David Meece

Big num sum

For the purposes of this thread, I think it has to be any lower-mass solar system body orbiting a higher-mass primary (redundancy deliberate) that is:

1) Natural in origin
2) Graced with either a name or some other sort of designation, like U1987A, say, by the IAU.

Have I missed anything?

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Fin
Skep-ti-cult® member #488-28303-790

LOL. You're just going to have to give us more choices, DJ!

As with public elections, I'm a firm believer in not voting on a particular issue if I don't feel I know enough about it to make an informed decision.

(Gawd, I wish all voters felt this way.)

I voted for the highest number. If it is an overestimate, by the time anyone reads it, it won't be.

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Freedom For Fission A breath of fresh Iodine-131

Your comments are well received. I have tried updating the poll to include 106+++, but it won't let me. Dangit

DJ

ops:

Or more! :roll:

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T. Anderson

I stopped counting years ago, so since there isn't a "CowboyNeal does the mooning job for me" option I didn't vote.

Does asteroid 3753 also known as 1986 TO or Cruithne, Earth's second moon count as a moon or asteroid?

There's only one Moon in the solar system. The satellites of the other planets have different names. :P

Wrong question. The poll is "How many moons in the Solar System?" not " How many Moons in the Solar System?"

Aw, c'mon. This is getting old There is one Moon. There are many moons (natural and artificial). The Moon and the moons are all satellites. That's just the way it is.

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Fin
Skep-ti-cult® member #488-28303-790