Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons moving around Jupiter. The solar system‘s largest planet now has a total of 92 moons. Up to the discovery, Saturn was the planet with the most known moons (83) .
The discovery was made while astronomers were looking for new planets beyond the solar system. The new moons are difficult to locate because they are very small – only about 1 to 3 km in diameter. They may be the rest of larger moons that broke apart after colliding with other moons or asteroids. Most of them are farther away, taking over 500 days to orbit Jupiter.
Jupiter’s new moons were discovered by powerful telescopes in Chile and Hawaii. They will be given names later on. Scientists think there are even more moons revolving around the gas giant.
The European Space Agency and NASA are planning missions to Jupiter in the coming year that should be able to find even more moons.
Jupiter’s most famous and largest moons , Europa, Ganymede , Callisto and Io were discovered by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in the 17th century.
Ganymede – Jupiter’s largest moon
Image: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
