![]() Moons of the same colour are members of the same family. The main plot (bottom, left) shows the orbits looking top-down, while the other (right and top) plots show the movement out of the plane of the system. The motion of Jupiter’s irregular moons around the giant planet. ![]() For example, among Jupiter’s satellites we see at least four distinct families of irregular moons, each named after their largest member. The shattered fragments of those ancient satellites form families of smaller moons - the irregulars we see today. Over the billions of years since, those moons were pummelled and destroyed by passing asteroids and comets, and collisions with other members of their swarm. We think that each giant planet captured just a handful of irregular moons – a number far smaller than we see today. Instead, they are thought to have been captured by their host planets as the process of planet formation came to an end. Where do the irregulars come from?īecause of their wild orbits, the irregular moons cannot have formed in the same way as their regular cousins. And they are located much farther from their planet than their regular cousins. ![]() Many even move on retrograde orbits, travelling in the opposite direction to the spin and orbital motion of their hosts. Their orbits are highly eccentric (elliptical) and inclined relative to the plane of their host planet’s equator. Calçadaīut the irregular moons are another story. Around young giant planets, similar disks give birth to regular moons.
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