How many moons in the solar system have water?











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I've heard of a few moons in the solar system that have water, like europa and enceladus. However, I can't find information about whether there are other moons as well. I'm guessing there are more, but I'm not totally sure.



How many moons in the solar system have water (either liquid or frozen)?










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  • There is speculation that water exists underneath the surface of many giant planet moons. What level of evidence is required? The Wikipedia pages on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus seem to have several suggestions.
    – Rob Jeffries
    Nov 28 at 22:20










  • @RobJeffries only the moons proven to have water.
    – David the third
    Nov 28 at 22:21

















up vote
3
down vote

favorite












I've heard of a few moons in the solar system that have water, like europa and enceladus. However, I can't find information about whether there are other moons as well. I'm guessing there are more, but I'm not totally sure.



How many moons in the solar system have water (either liquid or frozen)?










share|improve this question






















  • There is speculation that water exists underneath the surface of many giant planet moons. What level of evidence is required? The Wikipedia pages on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus seem to have several suggestions.
    – Rob Jeffries
    Nov 28 at 22:20










  • @RobJeffries only the moons proven to have water.
    – David the third
    Nov 28 at 22:21















up vote
3
down vote

favorite









up vote
3
down vote

favorite











I've heard of a few moons in the solar system that have water, like europa and enceladus. However, I can't find information about whether there are other moons as well. I'm guessing there are more, but I'm not totally sure.



How many moons in the solar system have water (either liquid or frozen)?










share|improve this question













I've heard of a few moons in the solar system that have water, like europa and enceladus. However, I can't find information about whether there are other moons as well. I'm guessing there are more, but I'm not totally sure.



How many moons in the solar system have water (either liquid or frozen)?







solar-system natural-satellites






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Nov 28 at 22:16









David the third

1257




1257












  • There is speculation that water exists underneath the surface of many giant planet moons. What level of evidence is required? The Wikipedia pages on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus seem to have several suggestions.
    – Rob Jeffries
    Nov 28 at 22:20










  • @RobJeffries only the moons proven to have water.
    – David the third
    Nov 28 at 22:21




















  • There is speculation that water exists underneath the surface of many giant planet moons. What level of evidence is required? The Wikipedia pages on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus seem to have several suggestions.
    – Rob Jeffries
    Nov 28 at 22:20










  • @RobJeffries only the moons proven to have water.
    – David the third
    Nov 28 at 22:21


















There is speculation that water exists underneath the surface of many giant planet moons. What level of evidence is required? The Wikipedia pages on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus seem to have several suggestions.
– Rob Jeffries
Nov 28 at 22:20




There is speculation that water exists underneath the surface of many giant planet moons. What level of evidence is required? The Wikipedia pages on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus seem to have several suggestions.
– Rob Jeffries
Nov 28 at 22:20












@RobJeffries only the moons proven to have water.
– David the third
Nov 28 at 22:21






@RobJeffries only the moons proven to have water.
– David the third
Nov 28 at 22:21












1 Answer
1






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up vote
7
down vote



accepted










It's probably easier to consider the reverse question: which ones don't have water.



Talking about the major satellites of the planets, there are only two which are not ice moons: our own Moon, which has ice deposits at the poles, and Io. As far as I am aware, the evidence for water on Io is tentative at best (e.g. Douté et al. 2004), so of the major planetary satellites, the answer is all of them have water (usually in the form of ice, but some of them also have liquid subsurface oceans) with the possible exception of Io.



The small satellites of the giant planets are probably icy but I'm not sure the possibility that one or two of them are dry rocky asteroids that have been captured has been fully excluded. Phobos and Deimos have rocky surfaces but the possibility of ice in the interior of the Martian moons has not been ruled out.



There are probably lots of ice-free asteroid moons but finding out which ones they are would require going there and checking whether there's any ice in the subsurface, so confirming this is not currently possible. Small solar system bodies in the outer system are probably going to be icy, so dwarf planet satellites (Charon, Vanth, etc.) all likely contain ice.






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  • I appreciate the cited links.
    – zahbaz
    Nov 29 at 2:33











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1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
7
down vote



accepted










It's probably easier to consider the reverse question: which ones don't have water.



Talking about the major satellites of the planets, there are only two which are not ice moons: our own Moon, which has ice deposits at the poles, and Io. As far as I am aware, the evidence for water on Io is tentative at best (e.g. Douté et al. 2004), so of the major planetary satellites, the answer is all of them have water (usually in the form of ice, but some of them also have liquid subsurface oceans) with the possible exception of Io.



The small satellites of the giant planets are probably icy but I'm not sure the possibility that one or two of them are dry rocky asteroids that have been captured has been fully excluded. Phobos and Deimos have rocky surfaces but the possibility of ice in the interior of the Martian moons has not been ruled out.



There are probably lots of ice-free asteroid moons but finding out which ones they are would require going there and checking whether there's any ice in the subsurface, so confirming this is not currently possible. Small solar system bodies in the outer system are probably going to be icy, so dwarf planet satellites (Charon, Vanth, etc.) all likely contain ice.






share|improve this answer























  • I appreciate the cited links.
    – zahbaz
    Nov 29 at 2:33















up vote
7
down vote



accepted










It's probably easier to consider the reverse question: which ones don't have water.



Talking about the major satellites of the planets, there are only two which are not ice moons: our own Moon, which has ice deposits at the poles, and Io. As far as I am aware, the evidence for water on Io is tentative at best (e.g. Douté et al. 2004), so of the major planetary satellites, the answer is all of them have water (usually in the form of ice, but some of them also have liquid subsurface oceans) with the possible exception of Io.



The small satellites of the giant planets are probably icy but I'm not sure the possibility that one or two of them are dry rocky asteroids that have been captured has been fully excluded. Phobos and Deimos have rocky surfaces but the possibility of ice in the interior of the Martian moons has not been ruled out.



There are probably lots of ice-free asteroid moons but finding out which ones they are would require going there and checking whether there's any ice in the subsurface, so confirming this is not currently possible. Small solar system bodies in the outer system are probably going to be icy, so dwarf planet satellites (Charon, Vanth, etc.) all likely contain ice.






share|improve this answer























  • I appreciate the cited links.
    – zahbaz
    Nov 29 at 2:33













up vote
7
down vote



accepted







up vote
7
down vote



accepted






It's probably easier to consider the reverse question: which ones don't have water.



Talking about the major satellites of the planets, there are only two which are not ice moons: our own Moon, which has ice deposits at the poles, and Io. As far as I am aware, the evidence for water on Io is tentative at best (e.g. Douté et al. 2004), so of the major planetary satellites, the answer is all of them have water (usually in the form of ice, but some of them also have liquid subsurface oceans) with the possible exception of Io.



The small satellites of the giant planets are probably icy but I'm not sure the possibility that one or two of them are dry rocky asteroids that have been captured has been fully excluded. Phobos and Deimos have rocky surfaces but the possibility of ice in the interior of the Martian moons has not been ruled out.



There are probably lots of ice-free asteroid moons but finding out which ones they are would require going there and checking whether there's any ice in the subsurface, so confirming this is not currently possible. Small solar system bodies in the outer system are probably going to be icy, so dwarf planet satellites (Charon, Vanth, etc.) all likely contain ice.






share|improve this answer














It's probably easier to consider the reverse question: which ones don't have water.



Talking about the major satellites of the planets, there are only two which are not ice moons: our own Moon, which has ice deposits at the poles, and Io. As far as I am aware, the evidence for water on Io is tentative at best (e.g. Douté et al. 2004), so of the major planetary satellites, the answer is all of them have water (usually in the form of ice, but some of them also have liquid subsurface oceans) with the possible exception of Io.



The small satellites of the giant planets are probably icy but I'm not sure the possibility that one or two of them are dry rocky asteroids that have been captured has been fully excluded. Phobos and Deimos have rocky surfaces but the possibility of ice in the interior of the Martian moons has not been ruled out.



There are probably lots of ice-free asteroid moons but finding out which ones they are would require going there and checking whether there's any ice in the subsurface, so confirming this is not currently possible. Small solar system bodies in the outer system are probably going to be icy, so dwarf planet satellites (Charon, Vanth, etc.) all likely contain ice.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



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edited Dec 2 at 18:31

























answered Nov 28 at 23:10









mistertribs

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1964












  • I appreciate the cited links.
    – zahbaz
    Nov 29 at 2:33


















  • I appreciate the cited links.
    – zahbaz
    Nov 29 at 2:33
















I appreciate the cited links.
– zahbaz
Nov 29 at 2:33




I appreciate the cited links.
– zahbaz
Nov 29 at 2:33


















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