Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons around Jupiter, pushing it past Saturn as the planet in our solar system with the most moons — a whopping 92.
These newest moons range in size from 0.6 miles to two miles across, according to Sheppard.
“I hope we can image one of these outer moons close-up in the near future to better determine their origins,” Sheppard said in an email Friday.NASA’s Juno spacecraft has made the closest approach to Jupiter’s tantalizing, icy moon Europa in more than 20 years. In April, the European Space Agency is sending a spacecraft to Jupiter to study the planet and some of its biggest icy moons. And next year, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper toSheppard — who discovered a slew of moons around Saturn a few years ago and has taken part in— expects to keep adding to the lunar tally of both gas giants.
Jupiter and Saturn are loaded with small moons, believed to be fragments of once bigger moons that collided with one another or with comets or asteroids, Sheppard said. The same goes for Uranus and Neptune, but they’re so distant that it makes moon-spotting even harder.Jupiter’s newly discovered moons have yet to be named. Sheppard said only half of them are big enough — at least one mile across or so — to warrant a name.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Jupiter Overtakes Saturn as The Planet With The Most Known MoonsThe battle for the most known moons in the Solar System is raging on.
Read more »
Jupiter's moon count jumps to 92, most in solar systemAstronomers have discovered 12 new moons around Jupiter, putting the total count at a record-breaking 92. abc15
Read more »
Jupiter's Great Red Spot: Our Solar System's Most Famous StormThis churning red hurricane is twice the size of Earth ⬇️
Read more »
Astronomers Discover New Clues Regarding Stellar ‘Glitching’Recent findings indicate that a significant number of stars exhibit irregularities in their cores. Scientists have discovered a method to examine the internal workings of some of the brightest stars in the sky. An international team of researchers, utilizing data from NASA's Kepler space telesco
Read more »
Astronomers create map of all the matter in the universe | Digital TrendsRecent research has produced the most accurate map to date of how both matter and dark matter are spread across the universe.
Read more »