Conventional scenarios fall short in explaining the origin of moons within our solar system. Recent computer simulations have strengthened the argument that these moons, particularly the moons of Saturn, were supernaturally created not that long ago.

Scientists think many moons within our solar system, including Saturn’s moons Enceladus (see figure above) and Mimas, may have hidden oceans of liquid water within their interiors.^1–4 Computer simulations show that these suspected subsurface water oceans were likely not formed by large objects colliding with these moons, ruling out one possible explanation for their existence.^5,6 This result, combined with the results from computer simulations of these moons’ orbits over time, is bad news for natural explanations for the origin of these moons.

The existence of subsurface liquid oceans, if confirmed, is apparent evidence of youth, because it is virtually impossible that the “fine balance between internal heating and heat loss” needed to maintain a subsurface liquid ocean can serendipitously last for billions of years.⁷ Alternatively, it seems an unlikely coincidence that these moons recently became warm enough to support liquid oceans, just at the time we developed the technology to potentially detect them. Conventional scientists have acknowledged that such “lucky” coincidences make them uncomfortable.⁸

Based on orbital calculations, conventional scientists have concluded that many of Saturn’s moons must be less than 100 million years old:

In computer models that trace those moons’ orbits back in time, everything went off-script roughly 100 million years ago, with the moons being jostled onto orbits that simply are not observed today. “Their orbits do get knocked out of the plane of Saturn’s equator way more than we observe,” [astronomer Matija] Cuk [of the SETI Institute] says. “Meaning that this history that we are modelling never happened, and the current moons must be younger than that.”⁹

For this reason, they have been forced to argue that Saturn’s moons did not form billions of years ago but are instead relative “newcomers” to the solar system. Supposedly, a previous generation of moons existed. Some have proposed that today’s moons formed from leftover debris from collisions between the planets’ original moons.^5,9 Of course, that is sheer speculation—there is no evidence this supposed earlier generation of moons ever actually existed!

However, other scientists strongly object, arguing that a recent origin, including a recent collisional origin, for Saturn’s moons is extremely unlikely.^9,10 Yet the collisional origin seems to be the least far-fetched option among several unlikely scenarios.¹¹ This most recent study has revealed still another problem with the collisional explanation: the collisions can’t form the subsurface liquid water oceans thought to exist within some of these moons.

So where does this leave conventional theories? Apparently, many of Saturn’s moons must be relatively young, but a convincing natural explanation for their recent origin is elusive.

Of course, there is a possibility that some theorists seem unwilling to consider. What if these moons had a recent and supernatural origin, like the Bible describes? The Lord Jesus made the earth out of water, and some creationists suspect He made the heavenly bodies out of water, too, transforming the water into other substances when He formed them.^12,13 So, it would not be terribly surprising if the Lord Jesus left some of this original water in those bodies. Furthermore, the original warmth He provided these moons could plausibly keep subsurface oceans of liquid water unfrozen for the few thousands of years since creation.

As has been documented in many past ICR articles, evidence continues to grow stronger all the time not just for creation, but for a recent creation only 6,000 years ago.¹⁴

References

1. Wenz, J. and M. Wagh. There Are 23 Moons and Planets with Water in Our Solar System. Popular Mechanics. Posted on popularmechanics.com December 8, 2022, accessed September 9, 2026.
2. Hebert, J. Subsurface Oceans on Two Uranian Moons? Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org October 16, 2025, accessed September 9, 2026.
3. Hebert, J. A Subsurface Ocean on Mimas? Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org March 18, 2024, accessed September 9, 2026.
4. Hebert, J. Pluto’s Largest Moon Looks Young. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org July 21, 2025, accessed September 9, 2026.
5. Southwest Research Institute. Giant Impacts May Strip Small Icy Moons of Subsurface Oceans. Phys.org. Posted on phys.org September 8, 2026, accessed September 9, 2026.
6. Neveu, M. et al. 2026. The Role of Disruptive Impacts on Ocean Generation and Longevity in Icy Moons. Nature Astronomy.
7. Mace, M. Jupiter’s Moons Could Be Warming Each Other. University of Arizona news release. Posted on news.arizona.edu September 10, 2020, accessed September 10, 2026.
8. McKee, M. 2013. Planetary Science: Caught in the Act. Nature. 493 (7434): 592–596.
9. Drake, N. 2019. How Old Are Saturn’s Rings? The Debate Rages On. Scientific American. Posted on scientificamerican.com April 18, 2019, accessed September 9, 2026.
10. Carlisle, C. M. Saturn Moons Could Be Young. Sky & Telescope: The Essential Guide to Astronomy. Posted on skyandtelescope.org April 15, 2016.
11. For instance, one might argue that the moons were objects that were captured by the gravity of their host planets as they passed by. Yet the orbits of many of these moons do not match what would be expected in such a scenario.
12. Genesis 1:2; 2 Peter 3:5–6.
13. Humphreys, D. R. 2008. The Creation of Cosmic Magnetic Fields. Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism. 6 (1): 213–230.
14. Johnson, J. J. S. 2008. How Young Is the Earth? Applying Simple Math to Data in Genesis. Acts & Facts. 37 (10): 4.

* Dr. Hebert is a research scientist at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.