SPACE — The moon is found in various forms. In the solar system, we have rocky moons like our Lunar moon on Earth, the ocean moons Europa and Enceladus on Saturn, and the frozen ice moon Triton on Neptune. Of the hundreds of moons in the Solar system, there is not a single gas moon.
The absence of gas moons, even on gas giant planets like Jupiter raises questions. Is there a specific reason why the moon is not there?
Outside the Solar System, more than 5,500 exoplanets have been discovered so far. However, only two possible exomoons (moons outside the Solar System) have been seen, although they have not been 100 percent confirmed.
What is strange about these two exomoons is that they are thought to be gas giants, orbiting even larger gas giants. However, these two are exceptions that prove the rule.
Also read: Why does the moon sometimes appear orange?
To understand why there are no gas moons, at least in our solar system, it is best to first understand how gas giant planets form. There are two scenarios for the formation of gas giant planets known so far. One is called formation bottom-upothers are called formations top-down.
Forming Gas Planets from Bottom to Top
Bottom-up formation, or core accretion, is how the gas giant planets in our solar system formed. If we could travel back in time 4.5 billion years, we would see a young sun surrounded by a disk of gas and dust.
The planets of the solar system formed in the protoplanetary disk through a bottom-up core accretion process. Image: NASA/FUSE/Lynette Cook
It is the protoplanetary disk from which all the planets formed. First, they accumulate as rocky objects, continuing to grow as they collect dust, gravel, and asteroids. Some only grow as big as Mars or Venus, but others continue to grow, forming giant rock bodies with masses up to 10 times the mass of Jupiter.
Once they grow to that size, they have enough gravity to start pulling large amounts of gas from the protoplanetary disk. How much gas is collected depends on its gravity and the amount of gas available.
Also Read: Kepler Discovers Another Sun with a Seven Planet System
But in the end, our solar system only has four giant gas planets, namely hot Jupiter and Saturn, and cold Uranus and Neptune.
Formation of Gas Planets from Top to Bottom
2023-12-05 00:37:00
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