Svetlana Denisova
Solar system / Alternative theories
Table 4. Satellites of the planets of the Solar System
* Synchronized – always turned to the planet by the one side
Pink color – planetary satellites (moons)
Blue color – fragments of the destroyed space object
AB – asteroid belt
e – eccentricity
i – inclination of the orbit
Roche limit calculated by the simplified formula: R1* 2.46 – R2 * 2.46, where R1 – planet radius before destruction, R2 – after destruction (Table 3).
As it can be seen from Table 4, all the fragments of destroyed satellites are in zone of rings, on orbits nearest to planet, in Roche limit (blue color). All gas giants, behind a zone of destruction, have moons (pink color), and then the others satellites. Probably, the destroyed satellites were also the moons.
Consequently, the nearest moons, having the descending orbits, have reached the Roche limit and were crushed by the force of gravity.
Probably, it was a powerful explosion. The moon's core and magma fell on the planet, destroying its crust. They made up a large part of the moon mass. The volume of the planet has increased very rapidly. A core was not destroyed and preserved a spherical shape of a planet. The fragments of the satellite's crust have scattered to the nearby orbits. Small fragments, dust, sand and ice have formed rings. The most powerful explosion near Saturn has formed rings of 480 thousand km wide. The weakest explosion near Neptune has formed rings of only 63 thousand km wide. Large fragments in zone of rings attracted to itself particles and, as a result, the gaps emerged in the rings.
Jupiter has 4 large fragments of the shattered crust in the zone of the rings (92-226 thousand km): Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea and Thebe. The destroyed satellite can be called Amalthea, as it is the largest fragment. They have a total mass ~2.6*1018kg. It is only the part of the destroyed celestial body. A significant part of the mass is in the rings, which are dispersing in the course of time, falling to the planet and to the satellites in the zone of rings. Another part of the moon's mass, in the form of core and magma, probably, fell on the planet. In comparison with the other three destroyed planets, Amalthea has the minimum weight and the minimum number of fragments. It can be assumed, that the destructed satellite was small, but it was sufficient to destroy the crust of a giant Jupiter.
Saturn has the most powerful and the widest rings of 67-460 thousand km, visible in telescopes. Ten fragments of the destroyed satellite are in the zone of the rings. Their total mass is ~2.8*1018kg. The destroyed satellite can be called Janus by the name of the largest fragment. Neptune and Uranus have more fragments. However, the largest moon was crushed near Saturn. To confirm this, the following arguments can be cited:
– a large part of the mass is in huge rings;
– Saturn's destruction is the greatest of all four gas giant (the lowest density, the greatest amount of hydrogen);
– 4 whole moons in a zone of rings gathered a part of a mass (particles) from the rings;
– Lapetus has a powerful equatorial ridge, which, perhaps, has been gathered in the zone of the rings.
Apart from the fragmentary satellites, 4 moons: Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, and Dione there are in the rings of Saturn.
Mimas is the smallest moon in the SS. It is interesting, that the destruction of Janus destroyed the shell of Saturn, but it did not destroy the moons in higher orbits. Among all intact moons, Mimas has the nearest orbit to the planet. Apparently, at the time of the explosion Janus, Mimas was subjected to a powerful bombardment. It has a lot of impact craters. lapetus is the most unique moon. It has 3 characteristic features: a giant equatorial ridge, a black leading side and a white back side, and the highest orbit among the moons.
Uranus has rings closest to the planet, located at the distance 38-98 thousand km. This can be explained by the fact, that before destruction Uranus was less, than the other three planets. Consequently, Roche limit is nearest to him. It has 11 fragments of the destroyed satellite, more than the other three gas giants. The destroyed object can be called Puck , by the name of the largest fragment. The total mass of the fragments is ~6.9*1018 kg, the second after Neptune. The rings of Uranus are insignificant in comparison with Saturn. This means, that the explosion was not strong. Probably, Puck was very old, and a little magma there was inside, and the crust was very thick. The more powerful explosion gives more small particles (rings). Presumably, numerous fragments have gathered particles from rings, or they were scattered. From all other SS planets Uranus is distinguished by the fact, that it "turned on its side" with its entire system of satellites.
Neptune has a faint system of rings 42-63 thousand km. It has 5 fragments of the destroyed satellite, with total mass ~9.3*1018kg. It is a largest mass from the all crushed satellites. It can be called Larissa, by the name of the largest fragment. Despite the largest mass of fragments, Neptune has minimum destruction among four gas planets?! It has the highest density and the slowest rotation – 16 hours/day, other gas planets – 10 hours/day. To explain this, we can assume, that the destroyed satellite was not moon (not of planetary type), or its crust was thick and internal magma was little, and the explosion was weak. The mission "Voyager 2" studied satellites of Neptune in 1989. Proteus – a large non-spherical satellite has an equatorial ridge, possibly, assembled from rings. Judging by Proteus, the rings were more wide and reached its orbit. Neptune has only 1 moon – Triton. It is the most remote satellite having eruptions.