<p>This is not really known; while the rotation period of most of the larger satellites is known, and they're mostly synchronized, for the smaller ones it's harder to determine and they're <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Timescale" rel="noreferrer">less likely to be synchronized</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>One conclusion is that, other things being equal ... a large moon will lock faster than a smaller moon at the same orbital distance from the planet. ... A possible example of this is in the Saturn system, where Hyperion is not tidally locked, whereas the larger Iapetus, which orbits at a greater distance, is.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Wikipedia has a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#List_of_known_tidally_locked_bodies" rel="noreferrer">list of synchronized satellites</a> and 'suspects', if you want to investigate further.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-11T20:17:15.133Z
2018-05-11T20:17:15.133Z
Glorfindel
<p>Mercury and Venus have no satellites. Then earth has moon (synchronized orbit). For Mars - both its satellites (Fobos and Deimos) also synchronized. Analyzing other planets is hard - too many satellites. Maybe someone knows percentage - all of them synchronized or which ones are not synchronized (if just a few ones are not synchronized). All 4 largest Jupiter satellites are also synchronized.</p>

<satellite>
How many (or percentage) satellites of Solar system planets have their orbits synchronized like the Moon (always facing earth)?
caasdads
# How many (or percentage) satellites of Solar system planets have their orbits synchronized like the Moon (always facing earth)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-11)

Mercury and Venus have no satellites. Then earth has moon (synchronized orbit). For Mars - both its satellites (Fobos and Deimos) also synchronized. Analyzing other planets is hard - too many satellites. Maybe someone knows percentage - all of them synchronized or which ones are not synchronized (if just a few ones are not synchronized). All 4 largest Jupiter satellites are also synchronized.

**Tags:** satellite


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-05-11. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

This is not really known; while the rotation period of most of the larger satellites is known, and they're mostly synchronized, for the smaller ones it's harder to determine and they're [less likely to be synchronized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#Timescale):

> One conclusion is that, other things being equal ... a large moon will lock faster than a smaller moon at the same orbital distance from the planet. ... A possible example of this is in the Saturn system, where Hyperion is not tidally locked, whereas the larger Iapetus, which orbits at a greater distance, is.

Wikipedia has a [list of synchronized satellites](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking#List_of_known_tidally_locked_bodies) and 'suspects', if you want to investigate further.


---

