The Abundant Irregular Satellites of the Giant Planets

Abstract

Irregular satellites have eccentric orbits that can be highly inclined or even retrograde relative to the equatorial planes of their planets. These objects cannot have formed by circumplanetary accretion as did the regular satellites which follow un-inclined, nearly circular, pro-grade orbits. Instead, they are likely products of early capture from heliocentric orbit. The study of the irregular satellites provides a unique window on processes operating in the young solar system. Recent discoveries around Jupiter (45 new satellites), Saturn (13), Uranus (9), and Neptune (5) have almost increased the number of known irregular satellites by a factor of ten and suggest that the gas and ice giant planets all have fairly similar irregular satellite systems. Dynamical groupings were most likely produced by collisional shattering of precursor objects after capture by their planets. Jupiter is considered as a case of special interest. Its proximity allows us to probe the fainter, smaller irregular satellites to obtain large population statistics in order to address the questions of planet formation and capture.