There is so much that our solar system has to offer however some of the most fascinating
and bizarre worlds around us are actually the moons orbiting our very own neighboring planets
from their mysterious origins to their bizarre shapes wildly volcanic activity and freezing
temperatures these satellites have got it all welcome back to Factnomenal and for today's
video we will be exploring some of the weirdest moons that we have discovered in our solar system
with one of the most varied top graphics in the solar system an extremely odd appearance
Uranus's smallest inner moon miranda has got to be at the top of the list of Uranus's moons
miranda orbits the closest at a distance of 129,390 kilometers (80,399 miles) and takes
1.4 days to complete a single orbit of Uranus one look at miranda and you might be slightly spooked
the surface of the satellite is so diverse that its features seem to be haphazardly
jumbled up together from huge canyons as deep as 20 kilometers or 12.42 miles
craters, carone, parallel groves to scarps, ridges and valleys, miranda makes for an interesting mix
images of the satellites show just how diverse its landscape is giving it that Frankenstein monster
look not to mention it's home to the tallest known cliff in the entire solar system Verona Rupes
with a drop off of over 12.4 miles or 20 kilometers deep to put that into perspective
it's a whopping 12 times deeper than the grand canyon if you're wondering how long
it would take to fall down Verona Rupes the answer would be an excruciating 12
minutes volcanoes from Iceland to Turkmenistan have been described as gateways to hell
but there's nowhere in the solar system that this term is more apt than on Io if there is one thing
the moon Io is known for it would be its raging volcanic activity astronomers have learned that
it's in an almost constant state of eruption a part of the four giant Galilean moons orbiting the
largest planet in the solar system Jupiter while the other big three are frozen large worlds of ice
Io seems to exhibit some very starkly different properties for starters its landscape is a strange
mix of yellows browns and reds possibly from sulfur and ever-changing mineral formations
on the surface Io is the most volcanically active world in the solar system at least that we know of
data has shown that plumes of sulfur spew upwards as high as 300 kilometers or 186 miles from
the moon and its entire surface is filled with lava lakes and planes of liquid rock and magma
if that sounds like a hellish nightmare it should this isn't a place you'd want to visit with a
radius of 1131.7 miles it's slightly larger than the earth's moon and has a more elliptical shape
despite being covered in active volcanoes and magma the surface temperature averages
at about minus 130 or 266 Fahrenheit resulting in sulfur dioxide snow while the volcanoes can
easily reach over 3,000 Fahrenheit it's no wonder Io is an enigma its very own world of fire and
ice back in august 1993 Galileo came within 2,400 kilometers of 243 Ida the second asteroid that was
ever encountered by a spacecraft while attempting to study the asteroid during a flyby Galileo
actually made a stunning discovery ida had its very own natural satellite the satellite was named
Dactyl the first natural satellite of an asteroid that was ever discovered and actually photographed
it has a surprisingly spherical shape and is thought to be made up of the same material as ida
scientists say that Dactyl is unlikely to have been an object captured into orbit but rather
ida and Dactyl could have formed alongside each other along with several other theories suggesting
they could both be over a billion years old either way the pair will forever be known
as the first of its kind and changing the way we understand asteroids and their natural satellites
of all the planets in the solar system Saturn has got to be the planet with a long list of
strange satellites potato-shaped Hyperion is right at the top of that list what makes it so
odd is its abundance of craters of all shapes and sizes that are packed together across its surface
this gives the moon a sponge-like appearance almost like a porous sea sponge floating
against the dark of space with its naturally reddish color scientists believe Hyperion to
be mostly made of water and ice and a small percentage of rocks the Cassini probe was
especially useful in learning more about the oddly shaped satellite and was in fact
blasted by a burst of charged particles from Hyperion as its surface became electrostatically
charged within Saturn's magnetic field now that's one sponge you don't want to mess with
on average most moons are either round somewhat spherical in shade
but when it comes to Saturn's pan and atlas you might be very surprised both of the moons
bear an uncanny resemblance to flying saucers and once you spot it you really can't unsee it
the shape of the two moons however is still a bit of a mystery both pen and atlas have their
orbits lying very close to Saturn's rings and their rotation is rapid enough to give them a
smooth oval shape but perhaps the answer lies in Saturn's rings itself it is quite possible that
icy material from Saturn's rings could be falling onto them which would explain why the ridges are
smoother compared to the polar regions which are more rugged some would even argue that the process
has made atlas look like a giant piece of ravioli floating around Saturn though there are many
theories on how they could have gotten their shape researchers have strong reason to believe that
Saturn's inner moons were likely formed through a series of collisions between tiny moonless and
the collisions over the years could be a good enough explanation for the peculiar shapes
when close-up images of Saturn's innermost moon mimes were sent back to earth from nasa's voyager
spacecraft scientists and astronomers were absolutely stunned at what they saw
Mimis has a very distinct feature that makes it stand out among the rest
a large crater named Herschel named after William Herschel
who discovered Mimis in 1789. the large crater dominates one complete hemisphere
and the public could not hold back their surprise when they saw how it bore such a deep resemblance
to the death star from the star wars franchise the satellite which also goes by the name
Saturn 1 comes in with a diameter of 246 miles or 396 kilometers as the smallest object in the solar
system that's been known to pull itself into a spherical shape due to self-gravitation Mimis
has relatively low density suggesting it consists mostly of ice water it takes this moon a total of
22 hours and 36 minutes to complete one single orbit and just like our moon Mimis is tidally
locked to its planet and therefore it keeps the same side facing towards Saturn at all times
while we could debate all day long about Pluto's status as a dwarf planet oh oh my god oh hold
me back we can certainly all agree on its amazing largest natural satellite charon discovered in the
year 1978 by astronomer James Christie it's nearly one-eighth a mass of Pluto what's so interesting
about charon is that unlike the other satellites in the solar system it would have been considered
a dwarf planet in its own right owing to the fact that it technically doesn't orbit around Pluto
Charon and Pluto happen to have a common center of gravity between each other
which means charon neither rises nor sets but hovers over the same spot on Pluto's surface
in addition the two are tidally locked besides that the satellite has a rather frigid surface
covered with methane and possibly some water ice there is a lot we are yet to
discover about charon and its origin is still largely debated with one theory suggesting
it was formed after a Kuiper belt object hit Pluto and another theory states the
two bumped into each other in their early stages and have never broken apart since
we couldn't possibly go without giving an honorable mention to the fifth largest
satellite in the solar system and the moon that we know most about our moon not only do we actually
know so much about the moon but compared to the other satellites mankind has actually been
there believed to have been formed when a giant planet the size of mars crashed into the earth
this happens to be the largest moon in proportion with its parent planet in the solar system
besides Pluto and Charon it's so much more than the bright light we see in the sky all from
its heavily cratered surface tiny moonquakes caused by earth's gravity it's hot partially
molten core and the fact that it's actually responsible for half of the tides on the earth
each year our satellite also happens to be moving further away from us by stealing some
of the earth's rotational energy thus propelling itself about 3.8 centimeters away each time
if you thought the moon is just a rocky barren land then guess again
there is actually water in the form of ice trapped within dust and minerals on
the surface of the moon on the side that remains in the shadows thus enabling the ice to survive
if you happen to be on the hunt to find precious metals on the moon well you'd have better luck on
earth shockingly enough despite the earth and its moon sharing very similar history you will find
little to no HSE's or High Siderophile Elements like gold platinum and other metals besides there
are a lot of things we do not yet know about the moon however nasa seems to be quite keen to keep
their eye on our nearest friend with three robotic spacecrafts lunar reconnaissance orbiter and the
twin Artemis spacecraft currently exploring it that's all for today what's the strangest world
you know of in the solar system let us know in the comments don't forget to smash that like button
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