Moons: More Than Just Earth's Companion!

#42 Week 9

Author

Sigrun Sørumgård
February 27, 2025

Explore the diverse and intriguing moons of our solar system!

  1. Which two planets in our solar system do not have moons?

  2. Which planet in our solar system has the most moons?

  3. On March 14 and September 7 in 2025 there will be a total lunar eclipse. What is a nickname for a lunar eclipse, preferably because the colour turns grey-red to deep purple?

  4. Which moon is the largest moon in the solar system?

  5. Our moon has been seen in the sky throughout human history. Beyond our own, the first four moons were discovered in 1610. Who discovered these?

  6. Most moons are named after mythological characters. But one planet stands out and has moons named after characters from several different Shakespeare plays. What planet is this?

  7. How many days does the moon take on average to go around the Earth?

  8. Which moon was the first to be discovered with active volcanoes?

  9. What was the date (and year) when man walked on our moon for the first time?

  10. The dwarf planet Pluto has five moons. What is the name of its largest moon?

The Wonder Wall

  • Every moon discovered in the modern era gets a number first. For example, S/2009 S1 was the first satellite discovered at Saturn in 2009. The most significant moons get an official name. Most moons in our solar system are named for mythological characters from a wide variety of cultures. Newer moons discovered at Saturn, for example, are named for Norse mythology such as Bergelmir, a giant.

  • Earth's Moon probably formed when a large body about the size of Mars collided with Earth, ejecting a lot of material from our planet into orbit. Debris from the early Earth and the impacting body accumulated to form the Moon approximately 4.5 billion years ago (the age of the oldest collected lunar rocks).

  • Usually the term moon brings to mind a spherical object, like Earth's Moon. The two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, are different. While both have nearly circular orbits and travel close to the plane of the planet's equator, they are lumpy and dark. Phobos is slowly drawing closer to Mars and could crash into the planet in 40 or 50 million years. Or the planet's gravity might break Phobos apart, creating a thin ring around Mars.

Yesterday´s Questions & Answers

  1. The body has many organs, and the word organ itself means tool or instrument. Which organ is the largest?

    The skin, integumentum commune, is the body's outer surface and largest organ.

  2. What in the body is responsible for producing insulin?

    Insulin is the body's blood sugar-lowering hormone and is produced in the beta cells of the pancreas.

  3. The skeleton is the body's supporting framework of bones, connected by joints. How many bones does the human body consist of?

    Humans have 206 individual bones in the skeleton.

  4. Where in the body is blood produced?

    The blood cells are produced and matured in the bone marrow in central parts of the skeleton (skull, ribcage, spine, pelvis and femurs).

  5. How many teeth does an adult usually have if we count the wisdom teeth?

    The permanent teeth include four incisors, two canines, four premolars and six molars in the upper and lower jaw respectively. That is a total of 32 teeth.

  6. Which gland is the largest in the human body?

    The liver is the largest gland in the human body.

  7. What part of the human eye can be transplanted from a deceased donor to a living person?

    When a person's cornea is damaged, it can be removed and replaced with a healthy one, using a corneal transplant, usually taken from a deceased donor.

  8. What part of the brain produces oxytocin in humans?

    Oxytocin - also known as the "love hormone" or the "cuddle hormone" - is a substance that has a number of important functions in the body of humans and other mammals. The hormone is produced in the hypothalamus in the brain, for example during childbirth. There it helps to create an emotional connection between mother and child.

  9. The triangular bone scapula, do you know where to find it?

    Scapula is the same as shoulder blade. It is the triangular bone that forms the transition between the arm and the body (truncus) through the shoulder joint.

  10. What is the smallest muscle in the body?

    The stirrup muscle or stapedius muscle (Latin: musculus stapedius) is the smallest skeletal muscle in the human body. It is just over 1 millimetre long and works to stabilize the smallest bone in the body, namely the stirrup.