The largest satellites in the solar system consist of Jupiter's Galilean moons, the largest moon of Neptune, the largest two moons of Uranus and Saturn, and Earth's moon.
Top 10 Largest Moons
- Ganymede - satellite of Jupiter - 5268 kilometers in diameter
- Titan - satellite of Saturn - 5150 kilometers in diameter
- Callisto - satellite of Jupiter - 4806 kilometers in diameter
- Io - satellite of Jupiter - 3636 kilometers in diameter
- Moon - satellite of Earth - 3474 kilometers in diameter
- Europa - satellite of Jupiter - 3122 kilometers in diameter
- Triton - satellite of Neptune - 2706 kilometers in diameter
- Titania - satellite of Uranus - 1578 kilometers in diameter
- Rhea - satellite of Saturn - 1528 kilometers in diameter
- Oberon - satellite of Uranus - 1523 kilometers in diameter
Fast Facts About the Largest Satellites
All four of Jupiter's Galilean moons, or the four satellites discovered by Galileo and easy to spot through a backyard telescope, are in the top ten list. The moons, located close to the planet, are very different from one another. Ganymede is larger than Mercury and has a metallic core and a thick, icy crust. Ganymede's surface is almost half covered with craters with the remaining portion characterized by long grooves. Callisto is the outermost Galilean satellite and is the least reflective of the four. Callisto's surface is the most cratered and oldest in the solar system, at about 4 billion years old. Io is famous for its volcanic activity, sitting closest to Jupiter where it is affected by its home planet's strong tidal pull. Europa, the smallest Galilean moon, has the smoothest surface of any object in the solar system. Its icy crust is highly reflective with streaks and cracks. Underneath that icy crust is believed to be a liquid ocean.
Saturn's largest moon Titan is also larger than Mercury. Titan is well known for its dense nitrogen atmosphere. Rhea is an airless moon of Saturn made of rock and ice with craters and wispy streaks on its surface. Uranus's moons Titania and Oberon are very close in size. Titania has a lighter and younger surface than Oberon. Titania's surface was sculpted into scarps/faults and graben/canyons by both exterior and interior forces. Oberon also has canyons and scarps but is more heavily cratered. Neptune's moon Triton is in a retrograde orbit and is probably a captured Kuiper belt object. Triton is larger than its neighbor, the dwarf planet Pluto. Triton is best known for its surface terrain that looks like the skin of a cantaloupe and for its icy geysers, or cryovolcanoes.
Earth and the moon are closer in size than any other planet/satellite pair. The moon, long thought to be bone-dry, has now been found to harbor minimal amounts of frozen water. The moon has no atmosphere and its surface is mottled with craters and ancient lava flows called mare flows.
All the top ten largest satellites demonstrate hydrostatic equilibrium, which means their gravity is great enough to cause them to have a roughly spherical shape. In total, there are 19 known satellites in the solar system that have achieved hydrostatic equilibrium.
Sources: NASA
Kelly Whitt - I have been a professional writer for more than a decade, covering many topics from science-based articles to do-it-yourself home ...
