Saturn Claims Title as Solar System’s ‘Moon King’ with Over 100 Moons

Saturn, with its majestic rings, now holds the record for the highest number of moons in the solar system, surpassing Jupiter.

Astronomers from the University of British Columbia recently discovered an astonishing 62 new moons around Saturn, bringing the planet’s total count to an impressive 145.

This remarkable milestone not only exceeds the combined moon count of all other planets but also makes Saturn the first planet to have over 100 officially recognized moons.

The majority of these newfound moons have irregular shapes and are believed to be remnants of moon-moon collisions. This suggests that they are the remains of planet-sized objects that have collided over time. Interestingly, when comparing moons at a fixed size, Saturn actually outnumbers Jupiter in satellite count.

Professor Brett Gladman, an astronomer involved in the discovery, highlighted that “at a fixed size, there are three times more Saturn satellites than Jupiter satellites. Although they are not all known yet, we already know the final answer.”

Before this significant finding, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) had officially acknowledged 83 moons around Saturn. However, using an innovative imaging technique called “shift and stack,” the team of scientists successfully revealed these additional moons. By aligning and combining a series of images, they were able to uncover fainter moons that were previously invisible in individual frames.

The data used for this groundbreaking research was collected by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) situated on Maunakea in Hawaii between 2019 and 2021. The diligent efforts of the team and the utilization of the “shift and stack” technique significantly contributed to expanding our knowledge of Saturn’s moon system.