Saturn shatters moon record with 128 new discoveries

It turns out that Saturn still holds many secrets for us. Researchers have just announced the discovery of 128 new moons around the planet. Thus, Saturn, known for its impressive ring system, can now also boast the largest number of moons in the Solar System. According to the Science Alert portal, the newly discovered moons enrich the planet's orbit and contribute significantly to its natural satellites. In total, there are 274 of them, and this information has been confirmed by the International Astronomical Union. The discovery was officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union.

The first signals of the existence of additional moons appeared in 2019, when 62 new objects were identified. Astronomer Edward Ashton from Academia Sinica in Taiwan explains that further observations in 2023 confirmed the existence of an additional 128 moons.

The newly discovered moons are small, only a few miles in diameter, and have irregular shapes, unlike Earth's Moon. Scientists believe these moons are fragments of larger bodies that were captured by Saturn's gravity during the early stages of Solar System formation. Subsequent collisions may have broken them into smaller pieces.

The newly discovered moons belong to the so-called Norse group, characterized by retrograde orbits and elliptical trajectories, located beyond Saturn's rings. Scientists speculate that a collision might have occurred in this group about 100 million years ago, which is a relatively short period on a planetary scale.

Details regarding the discovery of 64 of these moons have been described in a new article in the "Planetary Science Journal." Thus, we expand our knowledge of the planet and learn more about the mysterious processes of moon formation in our Solar System.