(NLĐO) - The 128 newly recognized moons have nearly doubled the total number of Saturn's natural satellites to 274.
According to Science Alert, a team of scientists has just identified 128 previously unknown moons orbiting Saturn.
This discovery has been recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), bringing the total number of moons of this planet to 274, almost double the previous number and far surpassing Jupiter, which has 95 moons.
Saturn as seen from one of its most famous moons - the "moon of life" Enceladus - Graphic image from NASA data.
Previously, between 2019 and 2021, 62 new moons of Saturn were discovered , accompanied by faint signs that some scientists suspect could also be moons.
Astronomer Edward Ashton of the Sincia Academy in Taiwan (China) said that this prompted them to carefully survey the same area of the sky for three consecutive months.
As a result, 128 more new moons have been revealed.
These moons are not large, nor do they have the beautiful spherical shape of Earth's satellite, the Moon.
They are quite small, only a few kilometers wide. Their diameter isn't mentioned here because they aren't round, but rather resemble... potatoes.
Researchers believe that they initially consisted of a small group of larger objects, held captive by gravity in Saturn's orbit at the beginning of the solar system's history.
A series of subsequent collisions would shatter them into smaller pieces, creating the impressive number of moons we see today.
Researchers also believe that many of these new satellites are "new moons," formed only in a collision about 100 million years ago. That may seem like a long time, but it's very short compared to the billions of years of the solar system's history.
Many of these moons belong to the Norse Group, which are retrograde satellites, orbiting at oblique angles and in elliptical paths, outside of Saturn's rings.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/va-cham-tham-khoc-sao-tho-nhan-doi-so-mat-trang-196250312164822746.htm
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