Irregular Satellites of the Planets

<html>  <head> <title>Irregular Satellites of the Planets</title> <META http-equiv="Keywords" CONTENT="moons, satellites, planets, planet formation, origin of solar system"> </head> <body background="#ffffff" bgcolor="#000000" text="#ffff00" alink="#00ff00" vlink="#ff0000" link="#0000ff"> <body> <center> <table align=center border=0 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=0> <tr> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/satellites/jupsatdata.html"> <img src="jupiter.jpg" width=209 height=183 border=0></a> </td> <td colspan=2>  <center> <table border=0> <tr> <center> <th><font color="#F00000" size=+15>Irregular Planetary Satellites</font></th> <th><font size=+15 color="#000000">Home</font></th> </center> </tr> <tr> <th colspan=3 align=center><font color="#000000">This page and its links are dedicated to an overview of the irregular satellites/moons of the planets.</font></th> </tr> </table> </center> </td> <td valign=middle align=left><a href="http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/satellites/urasatdata.html"> <img src="uranus.jpg" width=190 height=184 border=0></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/satellites/satsatdata.html"> <img src="Saturn.jpg" width=216 height=110 border=0></a> </td> <td colspan=2 align=left> <center> <table border=2 align=center> <tr> <th align=center bgcolor="#faaa00"><a href="definition.html">Definition</a></th> <th align=center bgcolor="#00ff00"><a href="moonorsatellite.html">Moon or Satellite?</a></th> <th align=center bgcolor="#00ff00"><a href="significance.html">Significance</a></th> <th align=center bgcolor="#00ff00"><a href="capture.html">Capture</a></th> <th align=center bgcolor="#00ff00"><a href="kb/phoebe.html">Phoebe</a></th> <th align=center bgcolor="#faaaaa"><a href="results.html">Survey Publications</a></th> </tr> </table> </center> <p> <font size=4> <p> Our Irregular Satellites Survey has as its main objective the exploration and characterization of the irregular satellites of the planets. This survey has discovered 63 of the 97 known irregular satellites, all within the last few years. <p> The irregular satellites of the planets are thought to have been captured from independent orbits around the Sun. Their scientific significance lies in the fact that such captures are effectively impossible in the modern-day Solar System and, therefore, must have occured at a much earlier time. Study of the irregular satellites therefore constitutes a window on an early epoch. Whether capture occurred in association with the planet formation epoch or later, from a clearing phase in the <a href="http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~jewitt/kb.html">Kuiper Belt</a>, is unknown. <p> A popular-level overview of this hot subject is linked <a href="http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~jewitt/papers/2006/JSK06.pdf"> here</a> <p> A slightly more technical review is linked <a href="http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~jewitt/papers/2007/JH07.pdf"> here</a> <p> A more technical discussion of the underlying science is <a href="http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~jewitt/papers/2005/JS2005.pdf"> here</a> <p>  <p> <hr> <td valign=middle align=left><a href="http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/satellites/nepsatdata.html"> <img src="neptune.jpg" width=211 height=183 border=0></a> </td> </tr> <tr>  </tr> </table> <p> <table align=center> <tr> <td align=center valign=middle> <img align=middle src="images/smalldave.jpg"> </td> <td align=center valign=middle> <img align=top src="images/kbpaint.jpeg" width=50 height=38.4> </td> </tr> <tr> <th align=center> <a href="index.html" target="_top"><font size=-1>Jewitt</font></a> </th> <th> <a href="kb.html" target="_top"><font size=-1>Kuiper Belt</font></a> </th> </tr> </table>  <p> <a href="copy.html">Copyright </a> </center> </body> </html>

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Irregular Satellites of the Planets