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The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery (multiple dates occur when the moments of imaging, observation, and publication differ), identified through its various designations (including temporary and permanent schemes), and the discoverer(s) listed.
Historically the naming of moons did not always match the times of their discovery. Traditionally, the discoverer enjoys the privilege of naming the new object; however, some neglected to do so (E. E. Barnard stated he would "defer any suggestions as to a name" [for Amalthea] "until a later paper"[1] but never got around to picking one from the numerous suggestions he received) or actively declined (S. B. Nicholson stated "Many have asked what the new satellites" [Lysithea and Carme] "are to be named. They will be known only by the numbers X and XI, written in Roman numerals, and usually prefixed by the letter J to identify them with Jupiter."[2]). The issue arose nearly as soon as planetary satellites were discovered: Galileo referred to the four main satellites of Jupiter using numbers while the names suggested by his rival Simon Marius gradually gained universal acceptance. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) eventually started cleaning up the naming business in the late 1970s.
In the following tables, planetary satellites are indicated in bold type (e.g. Moon) while planets and dwarf planets, which directly circle the Sun, are in italic type (e.g. Earth). The tables are sorted by publication/announcement date. Dates are annotated with the following symbols:
In a few cases, the date is uncertain and is then marked "(?)".
* Note: Moons marked by an asterisk (*) had complicated discoveries. Some took years to be confirmed, and in several cases were actually lost and rediscovered. Others were found in Voyager photographs years after they were taken.
The planets and their natural satellites are marked in the following colors:
By Aristarchus of Samos, and later in Nicolaus Copernicus' heliocentric system (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, 1543), the Earth came to be considered a planet revolving with the other planets around the Sun, in the following order of distance from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The Sun, now situated near the center of revolution, was no longer considered a planet.
Together with his previous two discoveries, Cassini named these satellites Sidera Lodoicea. In his work Kosmotheôros[12] (published posthumously in 1698), Christiaan Huygens relates "Jupiter you see has his four, and Saturn his five Moons about him, all plac’d in their Orbits."
i: November 23, 2000 p: January 5, 2001
i: September 7, 2010 p: June 1, 2011
i: June 28, 2011 p: July 20, 2011
i: September 27, 2011 p: January 29, 2012
i: June 26, 2012 p: July 11, 2012
i: 2004 o: July 1, 2013 p: July 15, 2013
Solar System, Mars, Earth, Apollo program, Pluto
Venus, Earth, Neptune, Jupiter, Mars
Soviet Union, United States, Solar System, Mercury (planet), Earth
Solar System, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Oxygen, Mercury (planet), Moon
Solar System, Saturn, Venus, Earth, Mass
Pasiphae group, Carme group, Ananke group, Solar System, Jupiter
Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna, Cassini–Huygens, Titan (moon)
Solar System, Triton (moon), Neptune, Proteus (moon), Moon
Solar System, Uranus, Moon, Miranda (moon), Ariel (moon)
Mars, Moon, Phobos (moon), Deimos (moon), Solar System