Can Moons Have Moonlets? Or Rings?

Friday, April 17, 2015 - 15:20 in Astronomy & Space

New Horizons will soon reach Pluto, and is expected to find new moons and possibly a ring system. Could it find a moon of a moon? Or a moon with rings? Or, is that impossible? Is there anywhere else in the solar system that could have moons with moonlets?As we search for an answer, we will find out about why our Moon finds it hard keep a satellite at all, even just for a few years, and why an early satellite released by Apollo 16 unexpectedly crashed into the Moon. Also we'll chase up an intriguing puzzle about Saturn's moon Rhea.Anyway, let's start with the usual explanations involving tides. Then we'll see why that is not the whole story. WHY THE MOON CAN NEVER CATCH UP WITH ITS TIDES read more

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