My favorite moon is triton.

The surface temperature is has cold as it gets in our solar system,it gets down to -235 celsius and is the only moon that as a retrograde orbit.It also is one of the few active moons in our solar system, with geysers ejecting nitrogen and dust.We need to find out more about this moon.

Whats your favorite moon and why ?

Balrog

www.alienskys.com

 Ever since childhood I've had a special fondness for Io. I really don't know why. At the time (half a century ago) very little was known about any of the outer moons.

 I was pleased when Io turned out to be such a dynamic place.

 I can appreciate your choice of Triton. I was watching when Voyager 2 sent back pictures of its surface and we had the first indications of vulcanism there, too. I also enjoy its retrograde orbit (different drummer).

Its got to be Enceladus ,

This small enigmatic moon is far and away my favourite , Its only 300 Miles wide yet has some form of internal heating system, the highest albedo of any Solar system object , a young surface in places , an old surface in other places , fountains and a fantastic view of Saturn, What more could you want from a Moon?

(And as for the internal heat source , my secret theory is that its the engines running in idle , but dont tell anyone!)

What engines are you talking about? What kind of theory is this? Does it run on gasoline?

Dont be so silly!!!

 They are obviously using a pebble-bed reactor with a thermal exchange system and H2O as the secondary coolant , not gasoline!!

 As for what theory is this , all will be revealed in my forthcoming book , "My life and times on an Alien star cruiser"

(MODS... I know this is off topic , feel free to delete if you wish )

"My life and times on an Alien star cruiser"    Loonyman, that sounds good! You might want to Copyright that title.

My favorite moon is Rhea but that's because I think she's blue because of her picture in Stellarium.  I can't find evidence of her being blue elsewhere on the web though.  Does anybody know if she's really blue or not and why Stellarium has her looking bright blue if she's not?
 

I have done some investigating regarding Rhea´s colour and came up with the following.

The image below of Rhea as been taken in true colour, where as the image you refer too..i think as been tampered with using Photo shop. See link below for instructions on how to change image colours.

http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/imaging/tutorial_rgb_pse.html

I hope this helps a little in explaining Rhea´s false colour

Don't ask me why they feel the need to change images, maybe they think the images are improved in some way.

Balrog

www.alienskys.com

p.s looneyman --- have you got any spare rooms on your " Alien star cruiser " ?

My favorite tends to change with each new photo from NASA.  At first it was Io, then Triton, then Titan, Hyperion...and now I guess my favorite is Iapetus. 

 Thanks Balrog, that's the same info I came up with. 

Nice choice jsmoody,

This moon as definitely potential for more studying.

Astronomers believe the dark, organic-rich material on the front possibly comes from one of Saturn's other moons and is simply splattered on Iapetus's leading hemisphere.

As dark material absorbs more sunlight, some scientists have suggested that the moon's face got slightly warmer than its back.

Over time, this led to the evaporation of thin layers of ice, exposing even more dark material that was already mixed in with the ice. The net result: a feedback loop that produced the satellite's distinctive look.

Now, new pictures by the Cassini spacecraft has given boost to the theory that a runaway heating process is tainting portions of the moon.

The scientists say this suggests that as the slopes get slightly warmer, ice on the surface starts to evaporate. This exposes more dark stuff in the ice, which is then ready to retain even more solar heat.

Or could it be that the same principle applies to this moon as it did for Enceladus, it´s internal engine is running on idle ? (ref: looneyman)

Balrog

www.alienskys.com

Cool explanation, Balrog.  I love the look of that moon.  

Come on you guys, you could at least take five minutes of your pressure time to state your favorite satellites. It would be interesting to come up with some figures of which particular moons attract the most attention and why.[bow]

Balrog

www.alienskys.com[swg]

Although I think all the satellites are interesting, I'm going to have to say Titan.
 

Um, like THE MOON. You know, our own satellite. While the satellites in the outer solar system are fascinating they appear as only "stars" in my own telescope. It is endlessly engaging to watch its surface in all manner of constantly changing lighting. A second choice would be Charon as I am eagerly awaiting to discover what unexpected surprises await us so far away from home.

I agree from_sirius that Titan will be / is one of the favorite choices of many Astronomers but are there any more surprises remaining yet to be discovered ?

Our Moon leo731 as definitely got it´s own special charm, but quite boring compared to the more dynamic satellites in our solar system. Your second choice of Charon was very interesting, we all know that Charon is gravitationally locked to the dwarf planet Pluto. What do you think we will discover when New Horizons arrives in what..around 2700 days from now ?

Balrog

www.alienskys.com

Hi Balrog,

If we had a more dynamic moon closer to us wouldn't that be awesome? But the Moon is there and we can observe so much of its alien landscape with so little aid; not to mention Lunar and Solar sclipses that are positively astounding. I expect Charon will be some mix of ice and rock. I do wish we had visited ten years ago when Pluto had an atmosphere and possibly Charon as well. How will Charon be put together is anyone's guess and that is what is so intruiging. Could Charon have all the geologic ice formations we see on other icy worlds? Is it a glued together mass like Triton? This little world is so very far away and impossibly cold what will it be like? Its that mystery and the penchant for our Solar System to constantly surprise us that make me grin in anticipation of what we will find in the rather unique Pluto system.

Leo

My favorite moon is Rhea, discovered by Giovanni Cassini way back in 1672, It reminds me alot of our moon but is composed of two-thirds ice and has a rocky core.

I would not want to go there for my holidays, too bloody cold

VALHALLA

Hoppet är det sista som lämnar människan.

Our own moon would be my favorite.  I can spend the rest of my life exploring its geological history with my own eyes.

Second would be Europa and its whispered promise of water oceans.

I'd have to say Europa, with it's beautiful landscape of... ice. (And yes, the potential ocean is rather fascinating as well). I also like Titan :)