The moons of our Solar System

The recent discovery of another moon orbiting Pluto - taking the number of moons under the influence of the dwarf planet to five - highlights that beyond the eight planets there are many varied and interesting celestial bodies and discoveries are still being made in our Solar System.

Not counting the five moons around Pluto, now classified as a dwarf planet, 172 moons have been found orbiting the eight planets. There may well be more to discover - two more small moons (2km - 3km diameter) were discovered orbiting Jupiter in 2010 and confirmed in June 2011 by the International Astronomical Union, as reported by Sen.

We have discovered that not all moons are dead cratered worlds. Our exploration of the Solar System has instead found a diverse range of worlds, some with subsurface oceans, others geologically active with giant geysers and volcanoes, and Titan, with a thick atmosphere.

Starting with the planet closest to the Sun, the moons so far revealed are: Mercury - 0, Venus - 0, Earth - 1, Mars - 2, Jupiter - 67, Saturn - 62, Uranus - 27 and Neptune - 13.

http://www.sen.com/news/solar-system-moons.html