Academia Sinica researchers have found 62 previously unknown moons orbiting Saturn, which — with 145 moons — is now thought to be the planet with the most moons in the solar system, surpassing Jupiter with its 95 known moons.
The discovery by the international team involving the Taiwanese researchers came after the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Minor Planet Center in February announced the discovery of 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, which made the solar system’s largest planet also that with the most moons.
Researchers at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics teamed up with Harvard University, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Besancon Astronomical Observatory in France and University of British Columbia professor Brett Gladman to analyze data generated by the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, from 2019 to 2021.
Photo: AP
Their efforts confirmed that 62 sightings made during that period, including by the IAU and NASA, are moons orbiting the solar system’s second-largest planet.
Academia Sinica Vice President Chou Mei-yin (周美吟) yesterday said that the newly discovered moons are smaller and darker than previously documented ones, and their discovery was only possible due to advances in telescope technology.
The smallest of the newly discovered moons has a diameter of 2.5km, compared with Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, which has a diameter of 5,000km, Chou said.
One of the newly discovered moons, dubbed S/2019 S1, is relatively far away from Saturn, so it takes nearly two years for it to orbit the planet, Chou added.
Researching Saturn’s moons helps understand the planet’s past, she added.
Glademan said that the smaller ones among the newly discovered moons could be fragments of larger moons that disintegrated more than 100 million years ago.
Chou said that the technology to detect moons is continuing to improve, so the number of known moons orbiting Jupiter might once again surpass Saturn’s.
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