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Twelve New Moons Found for Saturn

Posted by timothy on from the eleven-moons-and-a-battle-station dept.

sebFlyte writes "Auntie is reporting that astronomers have found 12 new moons orbiting Saturn. Most of these are thought to be captured bodies, and they bring the total number of Saturn's moons up to 46, which is 17 short of Jupiter's total of 63. The new moons don't seem to have been named yet."

5 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. What defines a moon? by turtled · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What is the smallest size before it is not concidered to be a moon?

    --
    "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection." -- Sigmund Freud
    1. Re:What defines a moon? by feidaykin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Both the terms "moon" and "planet" are very subjective and usually it falls to the whim of the particular astronomer that discovered the thing. There's no set of guidelines. For example many astronomers consider the Earth and Moon to be almost a twin-planet system, because our moon is so large relative to the planet itself, and many consider Pluto not to be a planet at all but perhaps an escaped moon of one of the gas giants. Also astronomers seem to be prejudice toward balls of ice, those usually will never be called a planet no matter how large. So, there is really no cutoff size for moons or planets, and the classification is really not an exact science.

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      "To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking

  2. Previous 34 moons by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here's a list of the other 34 moons...these names are already taken:

    Titan, Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus, Calypso, Telesto, Helene, Methone, Pallene, Polydueces, Ymir, Paaliaq, Siarnaq, Tarvos, Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Thrym, Skadi, Mundilfari, Erriapo, Albiorix, Suttung, NarviMimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Hyperion, Iapetus, Phoebe.

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    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  3. Cassini? by Nuffsaid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    At first, I wondered why these moons were not spotted by the Cassini probe from its much closer point of view. The answer lies probably in their large orbital radius. These bodies are farther from Saturn than Phoebe, the first moon Cassini encountered while approaching Saturn for the first time. The main Cassini mission happens well inside their orbit, so that the probe should point outward in order to spot them. It probably will, now that their existence and position is known, but it would have been wasteful to do a survey of the open sky far from Saturn, with so many interesting things to see in detail around it.

    --
    Nuffsaid
    ________

    Don't know about his cat, but Schroedinger is definitely dead.
  4. Names by Jarlsberg · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The new moons don't seem to have been named yet.

    It often takes about a year from the discovery of the moon until it can be named. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) require detailed observations over time in order to recognize the moon as an unique object.