Moon: a moon is a celestial body that has achieved sufficient mass to create its own gravitational field, orbits the Sun, but is not the dominant body in its area. Some moons are large enough to create an orbit around the Sun, but because they have been captured by a planet they cannot do so. This means that the large celestial bodies orbiting the 8 planets are moons. Here is a brief description of four of the most important/interesting moons in the solar system: Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Ganymede, Jupiter – This is the largest moon in the entire solar system, with a diameter of 5,262 km. This moon is so large that if it weren't stuck in orbit around Jupiter it would probably be classified as a planet. It takes 7.1 days to complete one orbit around Jupiter. The atmosphere contains small amounts of O2 and the surface is made up of ice and rock. Titan, Saturn – With a diameter of 5,150 km, Titan is the second largest moon in the solar system. It has an atmosphere with some similarities to that of Earth and on its surface there are also lakes made up of liquefied hydrocarbons. Titan takes 16 days to complete its orbit around Saturn. Just like Ganymede, Titan's surface is composed of ice and rock. Charon, Pluto – Even though Pluto is no longer considered a planet, it is still the dominant celestial body in its area, meaning that Charon is a moon. Its diameter of 1,212 km makes it about half the size of Pluto, meaning that Pluto and Charon are sometimes referred to as a binary dwarf system. Charon orbits Pluto every 6.4 days. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay The Moon, the Earth: For us, the most important moon in the entire solar system is ours. The leading theory about its creation is that a large, Mars-sized rocky body called Theia impacted Earth soon after its formation. Part of the Earth that was thrown in this collision and part of Theia came together to form the moon. The Moon helps stabilize the wobble that the Earth had due to its tilted orbit. It also uses its gravitational field to create ides on Earth. The reason our moon is simply called "The Moon" is because until Galileo Galilei discovered moons orbiting Jupiter, we thought our moon was the only moon.