Irregular moons are characterised by their large, elliptical, and inclined orbits compared to regular moons. The new moons, which have been assigned strings of numbers and letters for now, will eventually be named after Gallic, Norse, and Canadian Inuit gods, in keeping with the convention for Saturn's moons.Īll of the newly discovered moons are in the class of irregular moons, thought to be initially captured by their host planet long ago. "Saturn not only has nearly doubled its number of moons, it now has more moons than all the rest of the planets in the solar system combined," said Prof Brett Gladman, an astronomer at the UBC, the Guardian reported. Recently, an international team of astronomers led by the University of British Columbia has discovered 62 new moons orbiting Saturn, taking the total number to 145! This find has put the planet back in first place in the Solar System's 'moon race' after being briefly overtaken by gas giant Jupiter.įurther, by overtaking Jupiter (with its 95 recognised moons), Saturn has also become the first planet to have over 100 discovered moons, said the researchers.
However, sometime in early 2023, Jupiter swooped in to steal Saturn's crown when astronomers found that the largest planet of our solar system had 95 moons.Īnd while Jupiter's victory was exciting, it seems it is also very brief.
As if its magnificent rings were not enough to set it apart, Saturn ruled as the planet with the most moons for many years, boasting 83 natural satellites of its own.
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