Chapter 9: Moons and Rings
Learning Objectives
By reading this chapter, attending lecture, and reviewing lecture content, you will be able to:
- Deduce the origin of various moons in our solar system based their orbital characteristics and chemistry/mineralogy
- Describe the lines of evidence used to support our Moon’s giant impact origin; identify which orbital characteristics of a giant impact origin that our Moon does not meet and explain why
- Recall the number of moons each terrestrial planet has
- Compare and contrast the Galilean moons of Jupiter (e.g., chemistry, size, distance from Jupiter, unique geological features)
- Justify why the moons Enceladus, Titan, and Triton are particularly unique
- Identify which planet Enceladus, Titan, Triton, Miranda, and Charon orbit, respectively
- Explain how tidal forces affect the evolution of moon orbits
- Explain how rings form around planets
- Identify which planets have rings and compare and contrast the rings of these planets
- Describe how gaps can form between planetary rings
