There are 288 discovered natural satellites – or moons, as they are colloquially known – in the Solar system. Most of these are found in the outer gas giants. However, many of these have not received proper names as they were discovered recently and have yet to be confirmed. Only 164 moons have proper names.
Out of those, there are 11 moons whose names start with the letter C. These are all listed in the following table. Below you will also find some additional details about each, including physical characteristics, the original meaning of their names, etc.
| Name | Planet | Name Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Caliban | Uranus | Named after a character in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest |
| Callirrhoe | Jupiter | One of the Oceanids (daughters of the titan Oceanus) |
| Callisto | Jupiter | One of the nymphs. Daughter of king Lycaon and one of Artemis followers |
| Calypso | Saturn | A nymph who lived in the island of Ogygia |
| Carme | Jupiter | Mother of Britomartis, goddess of mountains and hunting |
| Carpo | Jupiter | Daughter of Zeus and one of the Horae (goddesses of the seasons) |
| Chaldene | Jupiter | Mother of the hero Solymos. |
| Cordelia | Uranus | Named after a character in Shakespeare’s play King Lear |
| Cressida | Uranus | Named after a character in Shakespeare’s play Troilus and Cressida |
| Cupid | Uranus | Named after a character in Shakespeare’s play Timon of Athens |
| Cyllene | Jupiter | A naiad (a spirit or nymph that hangs in rivers, lakes, streams or other water bodies) |
Caliban
Discovered in 1997 by Brett Gladman, Caliban is an irregular moon of Uranus. Named after the savage character in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” it has a diameter of about 72 km. Caliban orbits Uranus retrograde at a distance of over 7 million km, taking about 579 days to complete one orbit.
Callirrhoe
Callirrhoe is a small, irregular moon of Jupiter discovered in 1999 by Jim Scotti. Named after one of the Oceanids in Greek mythology, it has a diameter of about 10 km. It’s part of the Pasiphae group and takes about 758 days to orbit Jupiter in a retrograde direction.
Callisto
Callisto, discovered by Galileo in 1610, is the second-largest moon of Jupiter and third-largest in the Solar System. Named after a nymph of Artemis in Greek mythology, it has a diameter of 4821 km. Callisto is the outermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons and is notable for its heavily cratered surface, suggesting it’s the most geologically stable of the group.
Calypso
Calypso is a small moon of Saturn, discovered in 1980 by Dan Pascu. Named after the nymph who detained Odysseus on her island, it’s about 23 km in diameter. Calypso is a co-orbital moon, sharing its orbit with Tethys, and is located in Tethys’ leading Lagrangian point (L4).
Carme
Carme is an irregular moon of Jupiter discovered in 1938 by Seth Nicholson. Named after the mother of Britomartis in Greek mythology, it has a diameter of about 46 km. Carme is the largest member of the Carme group, a family of Jovian moons which share similar orbits and are thought to be remnants of a single asteroid capture.
Carpo
Discovered in 2003 by a team led by Scott S. Sheppard, Carpo is a small, irregular moon of Jupiter. Named after one of the Horae in Greek mythology, it has an estimated diameter of 3 km. Carpo is unique among Jupiter’s known moons for having a prograde orbit inclined at about 56 degrees to Jupiter’s equatorial plane.
Chaldene
Chaldene is an irregular moon of Jupiter discovered in 2000 by a team led by Scott S. Sheppard. Named after the mother of Solymos in Greek mythology, it has an estimated diameter of 4 km. Chaldene is a member of the Carme group and orbits Jupiter in a retrograde direction, taking about 741 days to complete one orbit.
Cordelia
Cordelia is an inner moon of Uranus discovered in 1986 from images taken by Voyager 2. Named after the youngest daughter in Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” it has a diameter of about 40 km. Cordelia acts as an inner shepherd satellite for Uranus’ epsilon ring, helping to keep the ring’s particles in place.
Cressida
Cressida is another inner moon of Uranus, discovered in 1986 by the Voyager 2 mission. Named after the Trojan daughter in Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida,” it has a diameter of about 80 km. Cressida orbits within Uranus’ synchronous orbit radius and is expected to eventually spiral inward and impact the planet.
Cupid
Cupid is a small inner moon of Uranus discovered in 2003 using the Hubble Space Telescope. Named after a character in Shakespeare’s “Timon of Athens,” it has an estimated diameter of only 18 km. Cupid orbits between Belinda and Perdita and may interact gravitationally with Belinda, potentially leading to orbital changes over time.
Cyllene
Cyllene is an irregular moon of Jupiter discovered in 2003 by a team led by Scott S. Sheppard. Named after a naiad (water nymph) from Greek mythology, it has an estimated diameter of 2 km, making it one of Jupiter’s smallest known moons. Cyllene is a member of the Pasiphae group and orbits Jupiter in a retrograde direction.
Click on a letter below for a list of moons that begin with it.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Related:
For more on how moons are named check out this article.