In Roman mythology, Jupiter was known as the king of the gods after overthrowing the previous king, Saturn.
Since the late 1990s, Jupiter was the reigning king of the solar system. Aside from being the largest planet, it also possessed the most moons out of any of the other planets in the solar system. With new moons being discovered at a rapid pace, Jupiter emerged as the clear leader with a total of 67. If that wasn't enough, it was discovered a little over a year ago that Jupiter had an additional twelve moons, bumping up the known total to 79.
However, it seems that Jupiter's reign over the moons has just come to an end.
With a recent discovery of a whopping twenty additional moons, Saturn has just dethroned Jupiter with a confirmed 82 moons. With each measuring around five kilometers in size, the natural satellites were discovered by Scott Sheppard and his team at the Carnegie Institute for Science using the high-powered Subaru telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. Using previous data gathered from 2004 to 2007, the team were able to apply computing algorithms to predict the orbits of the discovered moons successfully.
Moons are oftentimes created as a result of collisions between large bodies like other moons and asteroids. Moons sharing similar orbit patterns likely come from the same origin event, which is where we get the different Saturnian satellite groups.
The discovered moons fall under three satellite groups based on their distance from Saturn: with two being part of the Inuit group, one of them part of the Gallic group, and the other seventeen in the Norse group. In line with this, the Carnegie Institute for Science is holding a contest to name the newly discovered moons after giants in Inuit, Gallic, and Norse mythology.
The three new moons in the Inuit and Gallic satellite groups rotate with the direction of Saturn (prograde) while the other seventeen rotate opposite the planet's direction (retrograde). Interestingly, the new Gallic moon is one of the farthest of the prograde moons, possibly hinting at an external force pulling it away from Saturn or even requiring a different classification altogether from the other prograde moons.
The discoveries give us a window into how these satellites and planetary bodies were possibly created and what's in store for them in the future. Sheppard explains the significance of the discoveries in a press release:
"Studying the orbits of these moons can reveal their origins, as well as information about the conditions surrounding Saturn at the time of its formation."
Will Jupiter be able to regain the throne? With advances in astronomy and technological development proceeding at a rapid pace, we can expect to discover more and smaller natural satellites as our equipment becomes more sensitive and more powerful.
For now, Saturn remains the undisputed king of the moons.
