12 New Moons of Jupiter Discovered; Jupiter now Has more Moons than Saturn

Astronomers discovered a dozen new satellites or moons orbiting around Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. With it, Jupiter snatched the crown from Saturn of having most number of satellites. The ringed Saturn has 83 moons, while Jupiter now has a whopping 92 satellites moving around it.

The 12 new satellites of Jupiter were discovered during observations conducted by astronomer Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington. The details and confirmation of the new moons were published in Minor Planet Center Electronic Circulars.

Recently discovered satellites of Jupiter are small and their orbits stretch over 340 days. Nine of the 12 are among the 71 outermost Jovian moons, whose orbits are more than 550 days.

The discovery of these new moons of Jupiter precedes the proposed NASA mission to discover the Europa satellite of Jupiter. Europa is believed to be having an ocean world. The Europa Clipper mission of NASA is preparing to conduct the first dedicated and detailed study of an ocean world beyond Earth. The probe will determine if this distant moon of Jupiter has conditions favourable for life. The expedition’s objective is to explore Europa to investigate its habitability.