Documentation / @interstellar-tools/constants / MOONS

Variable: MOONS

const MOONS: MoonsType;

Defined in: bodies/moons.ts:35

Represents a dataset of natural satellites (moons) in the solar system.

INFO

• Units: a in astronomical units (au), period in days (d), radius in kilometers (km), mu in m³/s².

• a and e are JPL's mean elements; orbit.angle is the true anomaly at J2000, from the mean anomaly in JPL Horizons' osculating elements at J2000, converted with this dataset's e. For near-circular orbits (e < 0.001) it is close to the mean anomaly, since the periapsis is barely defined. Irregular moons are strongly perturbed by the Sun, so their elements describe J2000 only.

• mu is the moon's G·M from JPL's satellite physical parameters, where JPL publishes one.

• Colors are hex strings used only for visual representation.

• Sources: compiled from public references, mainly NASA, NASA JPL, ESA and Wikipedia. See data sources.

Full list of moons in the dataset

This list is not an exhaustive list, and addition/changes will be added over time.

id	name	category	parent	orbit.a	orbit.e	orbit.period	orbit.retrograde	orbit.angle	radius	mu (m³/s²)	display.color
moon	Moon	natural satellite	earth	0.00257 au	0.0549	27.322 d		2.41	1737.4 km	4.902800118e+12	#BFBFBF
phobos	Phobos	natural satellite	mars	0.000062668 au	0.0151	0.3189 d		3.307969	11 km	7.087e+5	#888888
deimos	Deimos	natural satellite	mars	0.0001568 au	0.0002	1.2624 d		0.088942	6 km	9.62e+4	#A0A0A0
io	Io	natural satellite	jupiter	0.00282 au	0.0041	1.769 d		5.846065	1821 km	5.95991547e+12	#FF8C00
europa	Europa	natural satellite	jupiter	0.00448 au	0.0094	3.551 d		6.02377	1560 km	3.2027121e+12	#E6E6E6
ganymede	Ganymede	natural satellite	jupiter	0.00715 au	0.0013	7.155 d		4.832832	2634 km	9.88783275e+12	#8B4513
callisto	Callisto	natural satellite	jupiter	0.01258 au	0.0074	16.689 d		1.500362	2410 km	7.1792834e+12	#696969
amalthea	Amalthea	natural satellite	jupiter	0.00121258 au	0.003	0.498 d		5.866533	83 km	1.6456e+8	#A0522D
himalia	Himalia	natural satellite	jupiter	0.076465 au	0.16	250.2 d		1.686531	85 km	1.5155e+8	#A9A9A9
metis	Metis	natural satellite	jupiter	0.000855627 au	0.0002	0.295 d		6.248627	21 km	2.5e+6	#CD853F
thebe	Thebe	natural satellite	jupiter	0.00148331 au	0.0176	0.675 d		3.183597	49 km	3.015e+7	#B87333
pasiphae	Pasiphae	irregular satellite	jupiter	0.157 au	0.407	735 d	yes	4.08832	30 km		#8B0000
titan	Titan	natural satellite	saturn	0.00817 au	0.0288	15.945 d		2.868371	2575 km	8.9781371e+12	#D4A017
enceladus	Enceladus	natural satellite	saturn	0.00159 au	0.0047	1.37 d		0.122504	252 km	7.21037e+9	#F0FFFF
rhea	Rhea	natural satellite	saturn	0.00352411 au	0.0012	4.518 d		3.610039	764 km	1.5394175e+11	#C0C0C0
iapetus	Iapetus	natural satellite	saturn	0.0238 au	0.0283	79.33 d		3.604813	735 km	1.2051511e+11	#2F4F4F
hyperion	Hyperion	irregular satellite	saturn	0.00990322 au	0.105	21.3 d		1.437895	135 km	3.7049e+8	#CDAA7D
phoebe	Phoebe	retrograde satellite	saturn	0.0865 au	0.1634	550 d	yes	1.330749	106 km	5.5479e+8	#483D8B
titania	Titania	natural satellite	uranus	0.00292 au	0.0011	8.706 d		1.300938	788 km	2.269e+11	#8B8886
oberon	Oberon	natural satellite	uranus	0.00390053 au	0.0014	13.46 d		1.634613	761 km	2.053e+11	#6E6E6E
miranda	Miranda	natural satellite	uranus	0.000867967 au	0.0013	1.41 d		1.085483	235 km	4.3e+9	#CCCCCC
ariel	Ariel	natural satellite	uranus	0.00127628 au	0.0012	2.52 d		2.667861	578 km	8.35e+10	#A9A9A9
umbriel	Umbriel	natural satellite	uranus	0.00177801 au	0.0039	4.14 d		4.725942	584 km	8.51e+10	#5F9EA0
triton	Triton	retrograde satellite	neptune	0.002375 au	0.000016	5.87685 d	yes	5.99451	1353.4 km	1.42849546e+12	#C2A17C
nereid	Nereid	natural satellite	neptune	0.0369 au	0.75	360.14 d		3.278379	170 km		#87CEFA
proteus	Proteus	natural satellite	neptune	0.000786107 au	0.0005	1.12 d		4.949202	210 km	2.58342e+9	#708090
halimede	Halimede	irregular satellite	neptune	0.110901 au	0.521	1879 d	yes	3.476227	62 km		#A9A9A9

See

MoonsType.

Example item in dataset:

{
  id: 'moon',
  name: 'Moon',
  category: 'natural satellite',
  parent: 'earth',
  orbit: {
    /** Semi-major axis in AU */
    a: { value: 0.00257, unit: 'au' },
    /** Eccentricity (0 = circular orbit, 1 = parabolic trajectory) */
    e: 0.0549,
    /** Orbital period in days */
    period: { value: 27.322, unit: 'd' },
    /** Initial angle in orbit at J2000 */
    angle: 2.41 as Radians
  },
  /** Radius in km */
  radius: { value: 1737.4, unit: 'km' },
  mu: 4.902800118e12,
  display: {
    /** Visual representation color */
    color: '#BFBFBF' // Light gray (realistic lunar appearance)
  }
},

Example

console.log(MOONS[0].name); // "Moon"