Saturn Moons | 20 new moons around Saturn
Bhumika Goel / October 2019
Discovery of Saturn Moons
Researchers have found 20 new moons orbiting Saturn. The newly discovered Saturn Moons make the planet; the king of the moons; beating Jupiter. Total moons around Jupiter is 79 while the latest moons discovery around Saturn sums up the total Saturn moons to be 82.
Who discovered the new natural satellites of Saturn?
Scientists have discovered 20 new moons revolving around Saturn. The discovery team of researchers headed by Carnegie’s Scott S. Sheppard. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center declared the recent breakthrough on Monday, 7th October 2019.
What do the new Saturn satellites look like?
The newly discovered Saturn moons are approximately 5 km, or 3 miles, in diameter, each. Seventeen of the moons are revolving around Saturn in a retrograde direction. This means that the movement of the moons is opposite to the direction of the planet’s rotation around its axis. The rest three circumnavigate in the prograde direction i.e. the identical direction as the direction of Saturn rotation.
The retrograde moons including one prograde moon are farthest from the planet. It takes more than 3 years for them to complete one revolution around the sun. While the rest 2 prograde moons, close to the planet complete an orbit in approx. 2 years.
There are 3 different clusters of outer moons. These clusters are with reference to the angle of inclination to the orbit. The prograde moons and some of the outer moons with 46 degrees of inclination are called the Inuit group. The group is termed after Inuit mythology. It is assumed that these moons are formed by the degradation of a larger moon.
The retrograde moons form the Norse group, termed after Norse mythology. One of the newly discovered retrograde ones is the farthest the planet.
The other prograde moon inclines at 36 degrees, similar to a grouping of inner prograde moons around Saturn, called the Gallic group. The new moon orbits farther away from Saturn in comparison to other prograde moons. This indicates it might have been dragged away from the planet over time.
The new research could lead to
The scientists aim to find initial conditions around that laid the formation of Saturn with the research of orbits of the latest natural satellites.
Throwing light on the formation of our solar system Sheppard told, “A revolving disk of dust and gas surrounded the sun initially”. This disk created the planets. Saturn is also made of similar gas and dust disk. Since the newly discovered moons are revolving around Saturn, it indicates that these collisions occurred after the formation of the planet.
This brings the ringed planet’s total number of moons to 82, surpassing Jupiter, which has 79.
How was the discovery made?
The new moons at Saturn were found with the help of the Subaru telescope set atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The researcher’s team included Sheppard, David Jewitt of UCLA, and Jan Kleyna of the University of Hawaii.
“Using some of the largest telescopes in the world, we are now completing the inventory of small moons around the giant planets,” says Scott Sheppard. “They play a crucial role in helping us determine how our Solar System’s planets formed and evolved.”
Sheppard wants the new moons to be termed after giants from Norse, Gallic, or Inuit mythology. The contest for naming them is open now.
Contest details are available here: https://carnegiescience.edu/NameSaturnsMoons
Story Source:
Carnegie Institution for Science
ScienceDaily
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Bhumika Goel is a technology and design thinker, a lifelong learner having a wide range of experience across WordPress development, content marketing and search engine optimization. Creative web applications, tools, and products that your customers will love and get you real business results, is something she can empower you with. She is passionate for delivering high-quality work that meets the needs and expectations of her clients. She is always eager to learn new skills and technologies to enhance her portfolio and stay ahead of the curve. She is looking for new opportunities to collaborate with other professionals and help businesses grow their online presence and reach their goals.