Is any of the moons in solar system having smaller moons orbiting them?
Not that we know of, but there are asteroids in the belt that have their own satellites / are binary systems.
Moons of all the planets in our solar system
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Re: Moons of all the planets in our solar system
#32I'm surprised we haven't seen more hard sci-fi in the jovian or cronian systems. While constant 1g acceleration drives open the whole solar system to the ~month travel time that benefits stories, much more realistic accelerations (or limited fuel) can still manage the same within those systems. Add to that the plethora of interesting moons, rings, and gravitational points to focus people and material around and the a…
I think it is because aliens are more interesting than moons. Anyways, Expanse is amazing, I hope they improve for the last book in the series. Tiamat's Wrath was not the best.
Agreed on Tiamat's Wrath although it wasn't the worst either.
Re: Moons of all the planets in our solar system
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it is because aliens are more interesting than moons. Anyways, Expanse is amazing, I hope they improve for the last book in the series. Tiamat's Wrath was not the best.
Agreed on Tiamat's Wrath although it wasn't the worst either.
Absolutely! Persepolis Rising was amazing though. I am hoping the next book will be similar.
Re: Moons of all the planets in our solar system
#34I'm surprised we haven't seen more hard sci-fi in the jovian or cronian systems. While constant 1g acceleration drives open the whole solar system to the ~month travel time that benefits stories, much more realistic accelerations (or limited fuel) can still manage the same within those systems. Add to that the plethora of interesting moons, rings, and gravitational points to focus people and material around and the a…
I'm surprised we haven't seen more hard sci-fi in the jovian or cronian systems. While constant 1g acceleration drives open the whole solar system to the ~month travel time that benefits stories, much more realistic accelerations (or limited fuel) can still manage the same within those systems. If an entire Sci-fi continuity were limited to just Sol and Alpha Centauri, this by itself would constitute an inexhaustible…
> If an entire Sci-fi continuity were limited to just Sol and Alpha Centauri, this by itself would constitute an inexhaustible number of potential settings.
"Saturn's Children" by Charles Stross is a good one (unfortunately he had to do away with humans to keep the space opera physically realistic).
Re: Moons of all the planets in our solar system
#35So NASA is planning an expedition to Titan, Saturn's biggest Moon. So interesting.
Re: Moons of all the planets in our solar system
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm surprised we haven't seen more hard sci-fi in the jovian or cronian systems. While constant 1g acceleration drives open the whole solar system to the ~month travel time that benefits stories, much more realistic accelerations (or limited fuel) can still manage the same within those systems. If an entire Sci-fi continuity were limited to just Sol and Alpha Centauri, this by itself would constitute an inexhaustible…
> If an entire Sci-fi continuity were limited to just Sol and Alpha Centauri, this by itself would constitute an inexhaustible number of potential settings. "Saturn's Children" by Charles Stross is a good one (unfortunately he had to do away with humans to keep the space opera physically realistic).
Mostly humans with radiation repair nanomachines and shielding could do just fine, I think. (Saying more would spoil Saturn's Children.) Humans commanding autonomous drones should figure more into Sci-fi. "Away teams" of drones in real life space fleets should be more prominent. Instead of a transporter shifting bodies, we could have the shifting of points of view through VR teleoperation. (Which is really what a transporter was for in the original Star Trek series: Changing locations with minimal production expense.)
Re: Moons of all the planets in our solar system
#37Is any of the moons in solar system having smaller moons orbiting them?
It's theoretically possible, but not likely. The Earth-Moon-Sun system is fairly stable because the Earth and Moon are relatively far away from the Sun and everything else. When we put a satellite in orbit around the moon, the gravity of the Earth is much greater when the satellite is on the Earth's side, and much weaker when it's on the other side of the Moon. Those forces destabilize the orbit rather quickly and corrections have to be made using fuel.
If the Moon were much further away, the Moon could have a moon of its own. But the further away it gets from the Earth, the more likely it is to be influenced by other objects like other planets or the Sun.
Re: Moons of all the planets in our solar system
#38Is any of the moons in solar system having smaller moons orbiting them?
While not exactly the sub-moon you're looking for there are some interesting objects that come close.
Co-orbital moons, like Saturn's Janus and Epimetheus, are moons that are in stable orbit-swapping configurations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-orbital_configuration#Co-or...
Then you've got asteroids that are contact binaries that also have moons, like 216 Kleopatra. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/216_Kleopatra
And finally, you have 624 Hektor, which is a Trojan of Jupiter (stable solar orbit near Jupiter's L4 Lagrange point), that is a a likely contact binary that has a moon. So it's orbiting the Sun, while "orbiting" Jupiter's L4 point, while all 3 components (the two halves of the contact binary, and their moon) orbit the center of mass of their own little 'Hector system'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/624_Hektor