Natural Satellites: By: Krish Agarwal

VIII B
What is a Natural Satellite?
A satellite is any celestial body that
orbits a planet, a star, or any larger
astronomical body. In our solar system
alone, there are 210 natural satellites
orbiting planets. Natural satellites are
also called as moons. The word moon
comes from the proto-Germanic word
“menon,” which means “month.”

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1.
Natural Satellites of the Terrestrial Planets
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are the terrestrial planets.
 Mercury and Venus

❏ As of now, both Mercury and Venus have no moons.

❏ This is likely due to their proximity to the Sun. Both of the
planets are too close to the Sun to keep a natural satellite in a
fixed orbit.
❏ This is also due to their small Roche Sphere. The Roche sphere is
the area in which a body can dominate the attraction of a satellite.

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 Earth

❏ Earth has one moon: “Luna.” The word ‘Luna’ literally

translates to moon.
❏ The moon follow an elliptical orbit around the Earth
❏ At its closest point -the Perigee- the moon is 363,104 km
away from the Earth.
❏ At the furthest point of its orbit - the Apogee-The Moon is
at a distance of 405,696 km km from the Earth.

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Solar and Lunar Eclipses:

❏ Solar eclipses occur when the Moon is directly in front of the Sun.
Since the Sun is 400 times larger in diameter and the Moon, at a
specific spot in the umbra, the Sun will be completely blocked.
❏ During a lunar eclipse, the Earth casts a shadow on the moon,
which makes the Moon appear blood red. This is because some of
the light is bent from the Earth’s atmosphere and cast red light on
the moon
❏ The reason we don’t see eclipses daily is because the Moon’s

rotational axis is inclined to Earth’s by 5°.

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 The Formation of the Moon:

❏ Most scientists believe that 4.5 billion

years ago, a Mars-sized object named
Theia collided with our Earth. The
collision resulted in a ring of debris
forming around our earth.
❏ This ring of debris coalesced into our
Moon

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 Mars

❏ Mars has two moons - Phobos and

Deimos. They got these names because in Phobos

greek mythology, Mars has two sons -

Phobos and Deimos.
❏ They are among the smallest moons in the
solar system and they only orbit about Deimos
37oo miles above the surface of Mars.

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Gaseous
Giants
Planets which are comprised of gases
such as hydrogen are gaseous giants -
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune

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 “
The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way
the heavens go.
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God
who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect
has intended us to forgo their use.

-Galileo Galilei

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 Jupiter

❏ Jupiter has 79 different moons. However, the most

famous of them are the Galilean moons.
❏ The Galilean moons are comprised of Io, Callisto,
Europa, and Ganymede. These moons were observed
by Galileo.
❏ They are the 4 largest moons of Jupiter.
❏ Due to the immense body beside them and their
comparatively week self-gravitation, the galilean
moons are not spherical.
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 Saturn

❏ Saturn has 82 moons. Of these, there are 3

prominent ones, which are:
❏ Titan: It is Saturn’s largest moon, with a
dense atmosphere and stable water bodies
❏ Enceladus: Completely encased in ice
❏ Mimas: The smallest known astronomical
body to pull itself into a spherical shape (396
km diameter).

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 Uranus

❏ Uranus has 27 moons. Its moons are very unique:

❏ Cordelia and Ophelia help to maintain and
define Uranus’s rings.
❏ Miranda is a moon that has a crater that is
12 times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
(22284m). BY comparison, the Mariana
Trench is 11000m deep.
❏ Umbriel is the darkest of the 5 major moons

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 Neptune

❏ Neptune has 14 moons:

❏ Triton is the largest satellite of Neptune. It
circles opposite to its planet’s rotation. It is
closing near Neptune’s surface because of
this. Eventually, the gravity of Neptune will
rip Triton into rings.
❏ Nereid has one of the most eccentric orbits
ever observed. 7 times as far on one side as
opposed to the other.
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 Pluto

Pluto has 5 moons, but only one is major- Charon. The rest- Styx, Hydra, Nix, and
Kerberos- are smaller moons.

The mass of Charon is in a ratio of 8:1 but the diameter is in a ratio of 2:1
(1188:606)

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Pulsars

Pulsars are objects in space that

originates from a highly
magnetized neutron star. It emits
beams of electromagnetic
radiation from its poles.

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 Pulsars: Creation

Upon the death of a star, it can take
upon many forms. One of them is a
pulsar. A pulsar begins its life after the
collapse of a star. Up until its death, a
star stops itself from inevitable collapse
by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen and
helium atoms
However, at a certain point, a star must
start using heavier elements like silicon
and iron. This is not enough however,
and the star collapses in on itself. IN
lower mass stars, electron degeneracy
manages to save the star from
collapsing further.

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 Pulsars: Creation

However, star cores with 1.4x the mass A denser core would form a black hole
of our Sun will resist electron
degeneracy and the implosion
continues. Under high pressures,
subatomic particles form neutrons. A
core under 2.8x the Sun’s mass stops
imploding here to form a neutron star.

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Below is the creation cycle of a pulsar

Pulsars: Creation
 Pulsars: Existence

As the star collapses in on itself, it

starts to spin about it axis faster. This is
due to the conservation of angular
momentum. As the mass draws closer,
the speed at which the star rotates
increases. This forms pulsars.

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Thank You
Questions?