The inner planets only have 3 moons between them, so why does Jupiter have so ma

Question

The inner planets only have 3 moons between them, so why does Jupiter have so many moons?

Jupiter is further from the Sun than the Earth.

Jupiter spins faster than the inner planets and has a faint ring.

The inner planets are too hot to retain many moons.

Jupiter is much more massive and is close to the asteroid belt

Jupiter is further from the Sun than the Earth.

Jupiter spins faster than the inner planets and has a faint ring.

The inner planets are too hot to retain many moons.

Jupiter is much more massive and is close to the asteroid belt

Explanation / Answer

Two reasons. Firstly, Jupiter is extremely massive - 318 times the Mass of Earth. Anything passing near to it will either be flung out of the solar system, ripped apart by gravitational tides, or captured into orbit. Secondly, Jupiter orbits just beyond the Asteroid Belt, which contains perhaps more than a million Asteroids ranging from 1 kilometer in size to 1,000 kilometers - and countless more that are smaller. Most of Jupiter's large flock of moons are most likely captured asteroids that wandered too near the gas giant to escape, but not so close they were ripped to pieces. I think that Jupiter has many moons because of the fact that it has to hold plenty of asteroids in the asteroid belt.

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