This page lists all 6 moons whose names begin with the letter L, ranging from “Luna” to “Laomedeia.” These moons orbit several planets across our solar system, including Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. They range from small, dark captured asteroids just a few kilometers wide to the familiar and massive Luna, which has influenced life on Earth for billions of years.

Moons are natural satellites that orbit a planet, held in place by the planet’s gravity. They vary enormously in size, shape, and origin, and our knowledge of them has grown with every space mission we’ve sent beyond Earth. Luna is perhaps the most famous of all — the only world beyond our own that humans have ever set foot on, visited during the Apollo missions of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Below you’ll find the table with Moon, Parent Planet, Diameter (km), Discovery Year, and Description.

Moon: The name of each natural satellite starting with L, so you can quickly identify which body is being described.

Parent Planet: The planet each moon orbits, helping you see which part of the solar system each moon belongs to.

Diameter (km): The approximate size of each moon in kilometers, giving you a quick sense of scale from tiny space rocks to large, well-known satellites.

Discovery Year: The year each moon was first identified, showing you how our knowledge has grown from ancient skywatching to modern telescope surveys.

Description: A short summary of each moon’s defining features and history, so you can understand what makes it stand out at a glance.

Moons

MoonParent PlanetDiameter (km)Discovery Year
LunaEarth3,474Antiquity
LedaJupiter101974
LysitheaJupiter361938
LogeSaturn62006
LarissaNeptune1941981
LaomedeiaNeptune422002

Descriptions

Luna
Earth’s only natural satellite and the fifth-largest moon in the solar system. It drives ocean tides, stabilizes Earth’s axial tilt, and is the only other world humans have ever set foot on.
Leda
A small, dark moon in Jupiter’s Himalia prograde group, likely a captured asteroid. Discovered by Charles Kowal using photographic plates, it orbits at a great distance from Jupiter.
Lysithea
One of Jupiter’s small outer moons in the Himalia group, discovered by Seth Barnes Nicholson. It is thought to be a fragment of a larger body captured by Jupiter’s gravity long ago.
Loge
A tiny retrograde moon of Saturn in the Norse group, named after the Norse fire deity Logi. It orbits Saturn in the opposite direction to the planet’s rotation, hinting at a captured origin.
Larissa
An irregularly shaped inner moon of Neptune composed of rock and ice. First detected during a stellar occultation in 1981, it was confirmed and imaged by Voyager 2 during its 1989 Neptune flyby.
Laomedeia
A small outer moon of Neptune named after a Nereid from Greek mythology. Discovered in 2002, it follows an inclined, eccentric orbit typical of Neptune’s distant irregular satellites.
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