The MoonsProp database provides the physical and dynamic characteristics of natural satellites: size, mass, rotational properties, magnitude and albedo, orbital elements. These quantities are extracted from various publications, or possibly web pages, all cited in a list of references. The MoonsProp database is available on the VESPA datacenter.
These data will be updated as soon as new values are published.
MoonsProp contains referenced data for the physical and dynamical properties of all confirmed natural satellites of the major planets (initialized with June 2023 values). It covers planets from Mars to Neptune (moons of dwarf planets and asteroids are not considered). Values are given where known and, where possible, referenced in peer-reviewed articles or books. Unfortunately, in some specific cases, no articles or books are available. In these cases, the values are taken from web pages or web services.
These cases are as follows:
For each natural satellite, grouped by main planet and classified by number or provisional designation, the database provides physical properties and their uncertainties where possible: masses, sizes, rotational parameters, magnitude, albedo as well as osculating orbital elements, together with corresponding bibliographic references. In exceptional cases, values are extracted from web pages or web services.
The MoonsProp database is built in the VO context using the EPN-TAP protocol, and should be updated as new publications, detections and confirmations are made.
The detailed content of the MoonsProp database is given in the following table.
| Name | Unit | Type | Description |
| Planet | - | char | - |
| all_target_name | - | char | Concatenation of code1/code2/name/designation (for ex. 517#J17#Callirrhoe#S/1999 J 1) |
| code1 | - | char | Individual satellite code: name planet and sat number (for ex. 517) |
| code2 | - | integer | Individual satellite code: number planet and sat number (for ex. J17) |
| name | - | char | Adopted designation or name from IAU (for ex. Callirrhoe) |
| designation | - | char | Provisional designation from IAU (for ex. S/1999 J 1) |
| Size | |||
| mean_radius | Km | float | Mean radius |
| mean_radius_uncertainty | Km | float | 1-sigma uncertainty |
| triaxial_a_radius | Km | float | Tri-axial ellipsoid model |
| triaxial_a_radius_uncertainty | Km | Float | 1-sigma uncertainty |
| triaxial b_radius | Km | Float | Tri-axial ellipsoid model |
| triaxial_b_radius_uncertainty | Km | Float | 1-sigma uncertainty |
| triaxial_c_radius | Km | Float | Tri-axial ellipsoid model |
| triaxial_c_radius_uncertainty | Km | Float | 1-sigma uncertainty |
| size_description | - | Char | |
| Rotation | |||
| ra_spin | degree | Float | Right ascension ICRF at epoch J2000 JD=2451545.0 TDB |
| ra_spin_sec | degree/century | Float | Secular variation per Julian century |
| dec_spin | degree | Float | - |
| dec_spin_sec | degree/century | Float | - |
| w0_spin | degree | Float | - |
| dwspin_dt | degree/day | Float | Spin rate per day |
| Mass | |||
| Gm | m3.s-2 | float | Gravitational parameter |
| Photometry | |||
| magnitude | - | Float | Johnson V or R visual magnitude |
| magnitude_error | - | Float | - |
| albedo | - | Float | Visual albedo |
| mag_description | - | Char | V or R magnitudes at mean opposition or reference phase angle |
| Orbit | |||
| semi_maj_axis | AU | Float | Semi-major axis |
| eccentricity | - | Float | eccentricity |
| inclination | degree | float | Inclination |
| arg_periastr | degree | Float | Argument of periapsis |
| long_periast | degree | Float | Longitude of periapsis |
| long_asc | degree | Float | Longitude of ascending node |
| mean_anomaly | degree | Float | Mean anomaly |
| mean_long | degree | Float | Mean longitude |
| sidereal_rotation_period | hours | Float | Sidereal rotation period |
| epoch | TDB | Float | Epoch of reference for osculating orbital elements in julian date |
| reference_plane | - | char | Reference plane : ecliptic, planet equator or Laplace plane |
| orbit_description | - | char | tag for large variations of ecc. or incl. if any |
| Miscelaneous | |||
| discovery_year | Year | integer | Year of discovery |
| bib_reference | - | char | Concatenation of bibliographic references for mass, size, photometry, orbit |
| creation_date | timestamp | - | Date of creation |
SELECT TOP 1000 * FROM moonsprop.epn_core where(granule_gid = 'Saturn')
SELECT TOP 1000 granule_uid, semi_major_axis, sidereal_rotation_period FROM moonsprop.epn_core
SELECT TOP 1000 * FROM moonsprop.epn_core where (eccentricity > 0.5 and semi_major_axis > 0.1)
SELECT TOP 1000 granule_uid, alt_target_name, semi_major_axis, eccentricity, inclination, sidereal_rotation_period,mean_radius, magnitude, epoch, mag_description, reference_plane, orbit_description FROM moonsprop.epn_core where(granule_gid = 'Jupiter')
Credits:
Creators: W. Thuillot
Contributors: W. Thuillot, D. Hestroffer, J. Desmars, S. Erard, PADC
Publisher: Paris Astronomical Data Centre - IMCCE