Rings and Moons

Read 12.1 Ring and Moon Systems Introduced to learn about the moon and ring systems of the jovian planets, including Saturn’s extensive ring system and the characteristics of rings around Uranus, Neptune, and Jupiter.
Explore 12.2 The Galilean Moons of Jupiter to understand the features of Jupiter’s largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa, including their compositions, surface characteristics, and potential for hosting life.
What’s your favorite moon of Jupiter? (Now there’s a conversation starter for your next dinner party). My favorite is Io. Watch the BBC clip Explosive Io to learn more about the amazing volcanoes on Io.
Since that BBC series was made, the Juno Mission has provided even more detailed images of Io as well as up-close images of the other Galilean moons Ganymede and Europa.
Europa has been a target of particular interest to astronomers because of its icy surface and the possibility of a water ocean beneath the surface. Watch the video Searching for Life on Jupiter’s Moon, Europa to learn about the Europa Clipper space mission, which will be studying the moon in detail starting in 2030. You can see the latest updates on the Europa Clipper mission website.
Review 12.3 Titan and Triton to explore the unique characteristics of Saturn’s moon Titan, with its thick atmosphere and hydrocarbon lakes, and Neptune’s moon Triton, known for its thin atmosphere and nitrogen geysers.
Watch the NOVA Clip Life on Titan to see photos and analysis from the Huygens lander’s descent to the surface of Titan.
Read 12.5 Planetary Rings (and Enceladus) to discover the characteristics and origins of planetary rings and the role of moons like Enceladus in maintaining and shaping these rings.
The rings of Saturn are not solid but rather made up of millions of tiny particles of rock and ice. Many are as small as grains of sand, and some can get as large as a tall building. Each piece is like its own tiny little moon orbiting Saturn. There are so many of them, that we cannot make out any individual pieces from earth or even from spacecraft orbiting Saturn, instead it just looks like a solid, extremely flat disk. Check out this very high-resolution picture of Saturn’s rings and zoom in to see what they look like up close.
Here are some more pictures of the rings of Jupiter, the rings of Uranus, and the rings of Neptune.