Mercury has how many moons

Alas, it seems that planets that are too close to the Sun, such as Mercury and Venus, are destined to be without natural satellites. We are also fortunate enough that the massive collision that created our Moon happened so long ago! Listen here, Episode Mercury. There appears to be too much difference between earth and the moon for both to be formed from the same building materials.

The theory that the moon is a captured passing orb seems to make more sense. Which includes the analyzing of the rocks brought back by the Apollo missions. We are far more similar than we are different. Mercury has cleared the debris field away and is dense enuff to maintain its iron core… but the solar wind may have swept any smaller objects away the same way mercurys outer crust is decimated creating a smaller crust… it has a magnetic field because the iron core is interacting with the sun… but soon messinger will help decide if i speak the truth or its all speculation.

It has more substantial gravity — and, therefore, a larger Hill sphere — and is substantially farther from the Sun than Mercury. If Mars really captured Phobos and Deimos, or if Theia struck the proto-Earth and formed the moon, then that was mostly a matter of wild luck.

The physics of capturing a moon is about like the physics of a pocket of a pool table. The dimensions matter, a lot. The way I play, at least. I suspect you are correct. I, too, am a clueless layman who not only cannot do the math to create mathematical models, but who also cannot critique the models of others. Learn facts about the solar system's genesis, plus its planets, moons, and asteroids. Neptune is the most distant of the solar system's eight planets. Find out about the blue world's orbit, which of Neptune's moons is the largest, and how the planet is home to the most severe weather in the solar system.

Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. Media If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer.

Text Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Moogega Stricker. We on Earth have just one moon, but some planets have dozens of them. Up first are Mercury and Venus. Neither of them has a moon. Any moon would most likely crash into Mercury or maybe go into orbit around the Sun and eventually get pulled into it. Mars has two moons. Their names are Phobos and Deimos.

Next are the giant outer planets. They have lots of moons.