Lunacy, Part VIII
We've never been asked this question when we play Catch the Mania trivia, but you never know. How many moons do we have flying around in our Solar System? The answer is 290. Mars has two, Jupiter 95, Saturn 146, Uranus 27, Neptune 14, and Pluto (yes, even poor dwarf planet Pluto) five. We have just the paltry one. So, some interesting facts (to me, at least) about these "planetary satellites": Our Moon is a stabilizing force that makes the planet a more pleasant place for life (yay, Moon!). Mars' gravity is slowly tearing apart one of its moons, the hapless Phobos. Saturn's moons help shape its rings. The moons of Uranus are named for great literature. The major ones--Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon--can thank Shakespeare for their monikers. Pluto's moon, Charon, is so big it makes Pluto wobble. All of Pluto's moons--Charon, Nix, Hydra, Styx, and Kerberos--are named after mythological figures associated with the underworld. This leads me to
