What is your favourite moon and why?

[Kerbface]

Also, don't answer "Earth's moon because without it we wouldn't have tides so the planet would have evolved completely differently and we wouldn't exist". I mean in terms of being interesting to you.

[Canopus]

Titan and Europa

[rodion_herrera]

Earth's moon. I still want to know how it got there. I'm not yet 100% convinced of the most recent theory of an "Earth Mark I" being blasted back into a molten state by a Mars-sized impactor. So I'm still very curious of how Earth's moon became our moon. And I can't, no matter how I try, erase the images I saw on TV of the Apollo astronauts moving around on the surface in 1/6th gravity--it's mesmerizing. So I will always be fascinated by our moon, and will always, til the end of my days, long and wish to be there and walk on its surface.

[Jokurr]

Probably Europa, especially as a child. The idea of oceans under the ice fascinated me.

[Scotius]

Ganymede. Why? Because action of one of first juvenile space novels i've read as a child was placed there. There were mad scientists, talking robots, pretty and brave girl, rescue in asteroid belt, alien artifacts, adventure, discovery and cool pictures. My cheeks were burning from excitement when i was reading it

[AstronautGeologist]

Earth's moon. I still want to know how it got there. I'm not yet 100% convinced of the most recent theory of an "Earth Mark I" being blasted back into a molten state by a Mars-sized impactor. So I'm still very curious of how Earth's moon became our moon. And I can't, no matter how I try, erase the images I saw on TV of the Apollo astronauts moving around on the surface in 1/6th gravity--it's mesmerizing. So I will always be fascinated by our moon, and will always, til the end of my days, long and wish to be there and walk on its surface.

Ditto 100%. I want to be an astronaut when I 'grow up'.

[Felsmak]

So... difficult. Can't... choose!

Seriously though, my answer would have to be Titan. I like the way it resembles Earth but is still completely alien.

[Kerbal01]

Agreed

(10char)

[MBobrik]

Europa. One day I will get myself a big nuclear-powered shovel, and will dig my way down all the way to the ocean to scuba dive there

[GJames]

Probably Io, simply because of it's sheer strangeness. Titan fits the strange bill as well, and it fascinates me as much as Io, but you can see Io's surface clearly, whereas part of Titan's appeal is that it's permanently covered in cloud.

[Nikolai]

Hyperion, for three main reasons:

* Its rotation is chaotic, so its orientation in space is unpredictable over time (in fact, it's the only regular planetary natural satellite that isn't tidally locked), making calendars interesting;

* It looks strangely organic, like coral or something (if not like a Brillo pad); and

* It seems to be covered in organic gunk. (Why?!!?)

If I'm not allowed that one, then Dactyl, just because it was so darned unexpected and the first of its kind to be discovered; its discovery was also only possible because we put things in space as a species now, so there's that.

[Alesium]

My favorite moon is Iapetus. Its strange black and white colorations and contrast fascinates me!

[aceassasin]

Dactyl, the small moon of the asteroid 243 Ida, because i think its so cool that an object that small(on a celestial scale) can even keep its own moon.

[nettcod]

Europa. I want to go ice fishing there.

[The Jedi Master]

Lay... Oh, you mean REAL moons!

I would say Europa and Titan. When I was a kid, I didn't know that Titan actually had a dense atmosphere, and I fantasized about making a space hotel there so that people could see the rings from their windows...

[NovaSilisko]

Methone.

[Mephane]

Enceladus. It has giant geysirs that reach into space and shoot water and dust into an orbit around Saturn. There's even a theory that some of that stuff has ended up in the rings.

Edit: Oh yes, Methone is also cool, I'd place it second, I suppose. That smooth surface, no craters... it looks like it is actually liquid, not solid, like a giant drop of some opaque substance.

Edited June 10, 2013 by Mephane

[K^2]

Titan because of the possibility (even if remote) of methanogenic life on it. That would be the single greatest discovery we have ever made.

[ZingidyZongxxx]

I've always liked Europa because I think it has the most potential of any moon to have life on it. Titan and Io are cool too though.

EDIT: I've changed my mind. Because of the low gravity and dense atmosphere, you could build a space suit with wings and fly around on Titan.

Edited June 10, 2013 by ZingidyZongxxx

[jjwb22101]

Triton, simply because nobody else really cares/knows about it.

[NASAFanboy]

Our moon. Our clostest neighbor, and one of the future worlds of humankind. Europa comes in second, Titan, third, Ganymede, fourth.

[Fractal_UK]

Titan because of the possibility (even if remote) of methanogenic life on it. That would be the single greatest discovery we have ever made.

+1 to this.

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

Phobos.

Mainly for the fact that you can't orbit it.

And the view from the surface of that little guy, looking up at Mars, must be quite something.

Io and Ganymede are close seconds.

[Spaceisbeautifulul]

Methone.

Hah! It looks so funny in Space Engine!

[metaphor]

I like Jupiter's moon Metis. It orbits inside Jupiter's Roche lobe. This means that if you stood on Metis's surface closest to Jupiter, you would fall up towards Jupiter because of tidal forces.