We know that planets have migrated their orbits in the past. There’s evidence that the outer gas giants’ orbits have changed in our solar system—and in other star systems we’ve found many Jupiter-sized planets that have probably migrated very close to their sun.

But if a planet’s orbit changes and it has satellites, what happens to their orbits? Do they change at all? To what extent would it depend on the nature of the force that changes the planet’s orbit?

Topics: astronomy, physics, orbit, gravity, planets