12 new moons orbiting Jupiter have been discovered. (File)
Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons of Jupiter, taking the total number of natural satellites revolving around the Gas Giant to 92. Now Jupiter, which is the biggest planet in the solar system, has the most number of moons, according to Sky and Telescope.
The findings have been reported by astronomer Scott S. Sheppard from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC who observed the planet between 2021 and 2022. The Minor Planet Center (MPC) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has published the orbits of the new moons.
Before this discovery, Saturn had the biggest family of moons with 83 confirmed natural satellites orbiting it.
According to the US space agency NASA, there are many interesting moons around Jupiter but the first four moons discovered beyond Earth are of the most scientific interest. These four are called Galilean Moons - lo, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede.
Now a dozen more moons have been spotted around Jupiter. These newly discovered moons are smaller than other giant moons of the planet and take over 340 days to orbit Jupiter. Nine of them have a bigger orbital period of 550 days and are among the 71 outermost Jovian moons, the report added.
Three of the new Jovian moons are among those that orbit in a prograde direction and are located between the large Galilean moons and retrograde moons. According to Sheppard, these are harder to find than the distant retrograde moons. “The reason is that they are closer to Jupiter and the scattered light from the planet is tremendous,” the astronomer was quoted as saying by the publication.
In 2019, Saturn had overtaken Jupiter as the planet with the largest number of moons after Scott S. Sheppard discovered 20 new moons around the ringed planet. A year before, the astronomer had reported 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter after which an online contest was organised to name them.