Saturn gains 12 new moons
16 May 2005 by Evoluted New Media
Scientists have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Saturn using the world’s largest telescopes.
Scientists have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Saturn using the world’s largest telescopes.
The discoveries were made as part of a long term programme to explore planetary satellite systems. It brings the total number of Saturn’s moons to 46. The latest ones were found last year using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii with confirmation observations last month using the Gemini North telescope also situated in Hawaii.
The new moons range in diameter from about 3km to 7km, are irregular in shape and take about 2 years to orbit the planet. After the orbital elements were computed, it was discovered that all but 1 of the moons orbit Saturn in a direction opposite to the planets spin. These retrograde orbits suggest that they were captured, that is they formed elsewhere and somehow fell into Saturn’s gravitational pull.
Dave Jewitt of the University of Hawaii, co-discoverer of the objects, said: “These new discoveries improve our knowledge of the satellite system and should, eventually, lead to an understanding of the origin of the irregular satellites.”
It remains unexplained, however, why the four giant planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - possess about the same number of small irregular satellites irrespective of the mass of the planet, the orbit of the satellites, or if they were captured or formed in orbit
Jupiter is the planet with the most moons, 63 at the last count. Saturn now has 46. Uranus has 27 and Neptune 13.
