WHATTHEDISCOVERYOF62NEWMOONS OFSATURNMEANSFOROURSOLAR SYSTEM

By Olivia Dick '25

Since the dawn of astronomical sciences and studies, the stormy gas giant, Jupiter, and the ringed behemoth, Saturn, have competed in the ‘Moon Race’, battling for the planet with the most moons in our solar system. Head-to-head throughout time, with Jupiter most recently in first place, and Saturn trailing closely behind, the marathon has experienced a shift in positions Two international teams of astronomers are responsible for the discovery of 62 new moons of Saturn. One team is led by Edward Ashton, a postdoctoral fellow at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, while the second is led by Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C. Nevertheless, the astronomical discovery has placed Saturn’s moon count at 145 moons, the first planet to have over 100 recognised moons

In an effort to recognise any smaller and fainter moons orbiting Saturn, Ashton’s team used data and images taken from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) on the Hawaiian mountain Mauna Kea from 2019 to 2021 The team implemented a technique called ‘shift and stack’

The discovery of these new orbiters may also unearth important information about our solar system Orbiting between six million and eighteen million miles from Saturn, irregularly shaped like potatoes, and orbiting in clumps, the new moons found orbiting Saturn share almost no similarities to Earth’s Moon Subsequently, a debate over the true definition of a moon has sprung up For now, the size of the moon doesn’t matter, just “that it’s an object that orbits a planet,” as Dr. Sheppard said. Bonnie Buratti of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California believes the moons have “the fingerprints of events that took place in the early solar system.” The irregularly shaped moons of Saturn orbit in what are known as the Inuit, Norse, and Gallic groups. Astronomers believe objects found in these groups to be remains of larger moons that spanned up to 150 miles across It’s hypothesized that these early larger moons were destroyed due to an impact with comets, asteroids, or a collision with another moon. Dr. Sheppard says, “It shows there’s a big collision history around these planets ” The larger moons possibly date back to just a few hundred million years after Saturn’s formation 4.5 billion years ago.

Additionally, some rogue moons exist within the Inuit, Norse, and Gallic groups These moons orbit retrogradely – orbiting in an opposite direction to the other moons Dr Ashton presumes the rogue moons to be remnants of a more recent collision. Dr. Sheppard commented, “These objects might be unique They might be the last remnants of what formed in the giant planet region, likely very icyrich objects.”

To add, more detailed research of these newly discovered moons may give insight into the state of the solar system during the time of the formation of the moons For example, Jupiter was thought to have migrated from closer to the sun to its current location, due to a period of constant collisions when planets had not yet cemented their position in the solar system. Interestingly, Dr. Ashton believes that these irregular moons only scratch the surface, with “potentially thousands” of moons around Saturn and Jupiter. Although unclear as to why, Dr. Ashton expects Saturn to have possibly three times the amount of irregular moons that Jupiter does, placing Jupiter in a precarious position for the Moon Race Uranus and Jupiter also show signs of having the irregularly shaped moons, however, due to their sheer distance from Earth, the faraway planets are more difficult to study and observe

To add, more detailed research of these newly discovered moons may give insight into the state of the solar system during the time of the formation of the moons For example, Jupiter was thought to have migrated from closer to the sun to its current location, due to a period of constant collisions when planets had not yet cemented their position in the solar system Interestingly, Dr Ashton believes that these irregular moons only scratch the surface, with “potentially thousands” of moons around Saturn and Jupiter. Although unclear as to why, Dr Ashton expects Saturn to have possibly three times the amount of irregular moons that Jupiter does, placing Jupiter in a precarious position for the Moon Race. Uranus and Jupiter also show signs of having the irregularly shaped moons, however, due to their sheer distance from Earth, the faraway planets are more difficult to study and observe.

Overall, the discovery of 62 moons of Saturn has provided important evidence and information about our solar system With more research and data collection to be done, only time will tell how many moons the planets of our solar system end up with.