Skip to content
Can Moons Have Moons? episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 26, 2026 · 21 MIN

Can Moons Have Moons?

from Cool Worlds · host Cool Worlds

After the discovery of supersized exomoon candidates, many have been wondering - can moons have moons? And could *those* also have moons?! Today we dive into this fun little question and learn about the limits of satellites.Written & presented by Prof David Kipping→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-storeTHANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., I. Attard, M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, T. Mitchum, B. Reid & R. Lester.::References::► Kollmeier, J. & Raymond, S. (2019), "Can Moons Have Moons?", MNRAS, 483, 80: https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.03304► Also check out Sean Raymond's excellent blog article! https://planetplanet.net/2018/10/09/can-moons-have-moons/::Music::Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist► Brad Hill - There Is but One Good (00:00) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx0]► Falls - Life in Binary (4:08)► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four (8:50)► Joachim Heinrich - Stjarna (12:05)► Indive - Trace Correction (14:54)::Film/TV clips used::► Sunshine (2007) Fox Searchlight Pictures► First Man (2017) Universal Pictures► Another Earth (2011) Fox Searchlight Pictures► Moonfall (2022) Lionsgate► Agora (2009) Focus Features International► Outro clip by Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Berkeley Lab, Miguel Aragon, Mark Subbarao & Alex Szalay::Chapters::00:00 Introduction02:28 How are moons lost?04:08 Tides06:22 Moon Hill Spheres07:19 Analytic Results09:03 Iapetus10:12 Giant exomoons11:46 Moon moon moons13:55 Final thoughts14:54 Outro & credits#MoonMoons #SubMoons #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Oct 26, 2026

Embed this episode

Ready to play

Can Moons Have Moons?

0:00 21:45

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Cool Worlds?

This episode is 21 minutes long.

When was this Cool Worlds episode published?

This episode was published on October 26, 2026.

Can I download this Cool Worlds episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!