Monday, December 14, 2009

How many moons does Venus have?

A moon is a natural satellite of a planet. Earth's natural satellite is called the Moon, while those of Jupiter have different names. Among all the planets of the solar system, Mercury and Venus do not have any natural satellites or moons. In comparison, Jupiter has 67 moons (including the confirmed and yet to be confirmed moons), Saturn has 62 moons and even Pluto (which is no longer a planet) has 5 moons. 


The reason for the lack of moons of Mercury and Venus is probably their distance to the Sun. These two planets are very close to the Sun and as such any object farther away from them (in a larger orbit) may be swallowed by the Sun's gravitational field, while anything close to the planet (in a smaller orbit) would be swallowed by the planet itself. Thus, these two planets do not have any moons. 


Hope this helps. 

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