Saturn has taken the title of “moon king” with a staggering total of 274 moons, surpassing its rival Jupiter. The discovery was made by astronomers who identified 128 new moons orbiting Saturn using advanced telescopes. These new moons bring the planet’s moon count to almost twice that of all other planets combined.
The team behind the discovery, led by Dr. Edward Ashton, used the “shift and stack” technique to detect the moons. Most of the new moons are irregular shapes, just a few kilometers across, and were found in the Norse cluster, suggesting that astronomers may need to relax their criteria for what counts as a moon.
The discovery highlights potential future disagreements over what constitutes a moon. Dr. Ashton noted that there is no clear definition for a moon, which could lead to disputes about the classification of these new objects.
However, the discovery also offers insights into the early solar system’s turbulent period, where planets migrated and collisions were common. The new moons are likely fragments of larger objects that collided within the last 100 million years.
Understanding Saturn’s many moons may help resolve questions about the origin of its rings, which scientists believe could be the aftermath of a moon being ripped apart by the planet’s gravity. The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft will conduct a Mars flyby and image Phobos before continuing its mission to survey an asteroid that was deliberately hit with a NASA probe three years ago.
The identification of Saturn’s moons also highlights the importance of advanced telescopes and detection techniques in expanding our knowledge of the solar system.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/11/astronomers-discover-128-new-moons-orbiting-saturn