Astro Assignment

ASTA01

LEC01

TUT0006

Ruiyang Zhang

997385431

General Characteristics

Io is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter with a mean radius of 1821 km. Its mean orbit radius around Jupiter is 421,700 km, lying between those of Thebe and Europa. The inclination is 2.21° to the ecliptic and 0.05° to Jupiter’s equator with an eccentricity of 0.0041. Its orbital period is about 1.77 days with an average orbital speed of 17.334 km/s, rotating synchronously with its orbital period. Part of the surface looks whitish and other part is yellower. [1]

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn with a mean radius of 2576 km. It is the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found. Its semi-major axis is 1,221,870 km and its eccentricity is 0.0288 with an orbital period of 15.95 days and a synchronous rotation period. The inclination is 0.35° to Saturn’s equator. Titan is in natural color and the thick atmosphere is orange due to a dense organonitrogen haze. The satellite is thought as a possible host for microbial extraterrestrial life. [3]

Miranda is the smallest and innermost of Uranus’s five major moons with a mean radius of 235.8 km. Its orbit around Uranus has a semi-major axis of 129,390 km with an eccentricity of 0.0013. Its orbital period is 1.41 days with a synchronous rotation period. Its orbit has an inclination of 4.32° to Uranus’s equator, which is unusually high for a body so close to the planet. [2] From the photos taken by the Voyager 2, it looks grey just like our Moon.

Triton is the largest moon of Neptune with a mean radius of 1353 km. It is the only large moon in the solar system with a retrograde orbit. Its orbit has a semi-major axis of 354,759 km with an eccentricity of 0.000016. Its orbital period is 5.88 days with a synchronous rotation period. Because of its retrograde orbit and composition similar to Pluto’s,...