Why does Neptune have moons?
That’s a weird question….. Perhaps she meant how did it get its moons? All the jovian planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, also called the gas giant planets) have moons. Most of these moons are really tiny compared to their planet and compared to our moon (which, by the way, is HUGE compared to its planet, Earth, being one-quarter the diameter of Earth). Scientists believe that the gas giant planets formed almost like mini solar systems, with their own system of moons forming in orbit around the planet in a manner similar to the way the planets formed in orbit around the Sun. Some moons (most notably Triton for Neptune) were captured after formation, however. It’s actually pretty impressive the number of similarities between Triton and Pluto. There are lots of astronomy websites out there for kids. NASA has a good one: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/hom… Here’s a great website for the pl
