For as long as we've known about them, we've thought Jupiter had the most moons of all the planets in the solar system. Now, we know we were wrong. That spot has been taken by Saturn, and some of you might get a chance to name the newly discovered satellites.
NASA
Scientists at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC made the breakthrough discovery recently, while studying old images of Saturn taken by the powerful Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii ten years ago. They developed algorithms to compare images taken over hours and days, which allowed them to differentiate between stars and galaxies that were relatively stationary, and moons swinging around the planet.
All told, the astronomers spotted 20 more lumps of rock surrounding the planet, each about 4.8km across. "It's exciting to find them," said Scott Sheppard, an astronomer on the team. "These moons are very far away from the planet."?
That brings it to a total of 82 moons for Saturn, surpassing the 79 we know orbit Jupiter.
According to Sheppard, there isn't a reason for extra moons to have formed around Saturn. What probably happened, he says, is that passing asteroids and comets were captured by the planet's gravity well after it was formed, about 4 billion years ago. They were trapped by the planet's gravity well, and have remained there ever since.
About 17 of these new moons orbit Saturn in retrograde, meaning opposite to its rotation, while the other three orbit in prograde.
Carnergie Science
And just like they did when they discovered a dozen moons orbiting Jupiter last year, the team will is now hosting a public contest to help name the newest Saturnian moons. All you have to do is visit this link for the instructions and tweet the name to @SaturnLunacy. You need to suggest names either pulling from Nordic or Gallic mythology, and explain why you picked them.
But if your suggestion wins, you might have a moon named in your honour.