Saturn's Moon Count Soars to 274 with Discovery of 128 New Moons
Astronomers using advanced imaging techniques have identified 128 irregular moons, solidifying Saturn's lead as the planet with the most moons in the solar system.
- The International Astronomical Union has officially recognized 128 newly discovered moons orbiting Saturn, bringing its total to 274, far surpassing Jupiter's 95 moons.
- The moons were identified using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and a 'shift and stack' technique, which combines sequential images to detect faint objects.
- All 128 moons are irregular, potato-shaped objects measuring just 2 to 4 kilometers across, likely formed from collisions of larger moons or comets hundreds of millions of years ago.
- Most of the new moons are clustered in the Norse group, with retrograde orbits, suggesting a significant collision event occurred within the last 100 million years.
- Astronomers believe further discoveries of Saturnian moons will require advances in telescope technology, as current methods have reached their detection limits.
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