Discoveries of 128 new moons orbiting Saturn are mind-blowing
The cosmic contest between Jupiter and Saturn for the title of the planet with the most moons may have reached its conclusion. A group of astronomers has identified an astonishing 128 previously unknown moons orbiting Saturn, a discovery officially acknowledged by the International Astronomical Union. This significant addition boosts Saturn’s total known moon count to a staggering 274, leaving Jupiter, with its comparatively modest 95 moons, far behind.
Initial indications of these hidden moons surfaced between 2019 and 2021, when researchers detected 62 new objects in Saturn’s orbit. At the time, several other small celestial bodies were observed, though they could not yet be officially categorized as moons. Driven by the belief that more moons were awaiting discovery, astronomers revisited the same sky fields over three months in 2023. Their persistence paid off, leading to the identification of 128 new moons. Astronomer Edward Ashton of Academia Sinica in Taiwan said, “We returned to the same sky fields for three months in 2023, knowing that these were certainly moons and that there were possibly even more out there just waiting to be found. Sure enough, we found 128 new moons. Based on our projections, I don’t think Jupiter will ever catch up.”
Unlike Earth’s large, spherical moon, these newly discovered celestial bodies are small, irregularly shaped objects, often described as potato-like. These tiny moonlets, spanning just a few kilometers in size, belong to a category known as irregular moons. Scientists theorize that these moons originated from a small collection of objects captured by Saturn’s gravitational pull early in the Solar System’s formation. Over time, a sequence of collisions likely shattered these bodies into numerous fragments, resulting in the abundance of small moons observed today.
Researchers also suggest that a significant collision could have occurred as recently as 100 million years ago—an incredibly brief period in planetary terms. Many of these moons are situated within the Norse group, characterized by their retrograde orbits, inclined paths, and elliptical trajectories beyond Saturn’s rings. The recent findings imply that this region could be the site of the collision, further contributing to Saturn’s ever-expanding moon count.
