The International Astronomical Union (IAU) on Monday announced its latest discovery of Saturn’s 20 new moons. Saturn now has 82 moons, 3 more than Jupiter. Saturn now has the most number of moons among planets.
The discovery comes from observation made between 2004 and 2007. During this time, scientists had identified some spots of light near the planet but weren’t sure if these light spots revolved around the planet or not.
Scientists have also found that these new moons are 5 km or less in diameter, an done of them is the farthest moon from Saturn that scientists are currently aware of. Seventeen of these moons are in retrograde orbits, revolving around Saturn in the direction opposite to the planet’s rotation. These moons take over three earth-years to complete one revolution.
The Carnegie Institute has asked the people to suggest names for the newfound 20 moons of Saturn. People can tweet their suggestions to the Twitter account @SaturnLunacy with the hashtag #NameSaturnsMoons. Photos, artwork, and videos are also strongly encouraged, said the institute in a statement.
This has Twitterati coming up with various names for the moons.
