Life Changing Facts About The Moons In Our Solar System You Need To Know Now!

Turns out the Moon has some competition for being the best companion.

1. Our Moon

The distance to the Moon from Earth roughly scales to a tennis ball being about 24 feet from a basketball. That's a lot farther than most people would think! Also because of the weaker gravity on the surface of the Moon, if you weighed 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 16.6 pounds on the Moon!

2. Don't Be Jealous Mars...

Mars' moons, Phobos and Deimos, are among the smallest moons in the solar system. Phobos is the larger of the two being 14 miles in diameter while Deimos is 8 miles. To put this in perspective, Manhattan Island is roughly 13 miles long.

3. Mercury and Venus... Forever Alone

Because Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury couldn't hold onto its own moon. Scientists today are still trying to figure out what Venus is lonely, must be a personality thing.

4. Biggest Planet, Biggest Moon!

Jupiter is the most massive body in our solar system besides our Sun. Also, Jupiter has four large moons (Europa, Io, Callisto, Ganymede) that each have their own unique characteristics. The largest moon in our solar system is Ganymede.

5. The Largest Moon

Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. Ganymede was discovered by Galileo Galilei on Jan. 7, 1610. The discovery, along with three other Jovian moons, was the first time a moon was discovered orbiting a planet other than Earth. Ganymede is only slightly smaller than Mars!

6. What Galileo Saw

This picture closely resembles what Galileo saw through his telescope and how clear it was to see the orbiting bodies. This observation changed the world's view of our place among the stars in the 1600s. Objects orbiting other bodies besides Earth wasnt even a consideration. We thought we were the center of the solar system, but who could blame us?

7. Pluto's Company in Vacant Space

Some of the four moons that orbit Pluto are spinning incredibly fast. One is spinning backward against its orbit and some are tilted on their sides. This is in stark contrast to nearly every other moon in Earth's solar system, most of which are locked into a more rigid and unmoving orbit around their parent bodies, making Pluto's moons the wild children of the solar system.

8. Moon's With an Atmosphere

This is Titan, the largest of Saturn's 53 moons, and the second largest in the solar system! What is so special about Titan is its nitrogen rich atmosphere similar to ours on Earth. Most moons do not have atmopheres becuase of their small size, but Titian is just large enough to have one.