Moon king: Astronomers discover 128 new moons orbiting Saturn. Here's what we know.
Moon king: Astronomers discover 128 new moons orbiting Saturn. Here's what we know.
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Astronomers announced the discovery of 128 new moons orbiting Saturn on Tuesday.
The moons are only a few kilometers in size.
Saturn has more moons than any planet in our solar system.
Astronomers have discovered 128 new moons orbiting Saturn, further solidifying the planet as the "moon king" of our solar system.
Astronomers from Taiwan, Canada, France and the U.S. announced the discovery on Tuesday. The findings push Saturn's moon count to 274, towering over the previous record-holder Jupiter, which has 95 moons.
The recent discovery points to what astronomers have speculated for decades, that Saturn's rings were caused by a massive collision about 100 million years ago, researcher Mike Alexandersen, an astronomer at the Center of Astrophysics, told USA TODAY. A collision of such size could explain the small moons that orbit Saturn.
Here's what to know about Saturn's newly-discovered moons.
How big are the new moons?
The new moons are only a few kilometers across in size (one kilometer equals roughly 0.62 miles), lead researcher Edward Ashton, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, told USA TODAY.
The moons are "very small" and "very faint," Ashton said. Because the moons appear mostly as just little white dots on a black background in the photos taken of them, astronomers don't know much about the moons' characteristics yet.
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How were the moons discovered?
The astronomy team, led by Ashton, began its research in 2019, utilizing the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, located in Hawaii. The nearly 12-foot optical and infrared telescope is one of the largest in the world.
Using the telescope, in one night, Ashton took about 44 photos of Saturn over a three-hour long exposure. This was then repeated over three months. The variety of images allowed the team to perform what's known as the "shift and stack" technique, in which a series of images are aligned to create a single frame, Ashton said. This helped the team determine what objects were moving near the planet, like stars, and others that were remaining in orbit of Saturn − the moons.
Ashton was only able to take photos of Saturn during the new moon phase, Alexandersen said. During the full moon phase, the sky is too bright to take photos of planets as far out in the solar system as Saturn.
"There will be gaps of 14 to 20 days, where you can't observe, so you have to catch a few good nights in a row and then you have to predict where (Saturn's) going to be a month later in order to recover it," Alexandersen said.
Saturn's second moon discovery in two years
In 2023, Ashton announced the discovery of 64 new moons orbiting Saturn, according to The University of British Columbia. The recent discovery builds on this.
Before Ashton's research, astronomers were only familiar with 82 moons orbiting Saturn.
What happens next?
Ashton said astronomers may begin researching further characteristics of the moons, like what they are made of. However, because the moons are so faint and difficult to see, this will prove to be a difficult task.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
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Residents will at least want a flashlight and a way to charge their phone. They should also be prepared to have access to electricity or water cut off for days or weeks. Here are a few practical tips: When trying to use your phone, text – don't call. In a disaster, text messages are more reliable and strain cell networks less. To power your phone, you can cheaply buy a combination weather radio, flashlight and hand-crank charger to keep your cell running even without power for days. A cash reserve is good to have, USGS seismologist Lucy Jones previously said. You'll want to be able to buy things, even if your credit card doesn't work for a time. Simple things like securing bookshelves can save lives. Downloading an early warning app can give you precious moments to protect yourself in the event of a big quake. Buying earthquake insurance can protect homeowners. And taking part in a yearly drill can help remind you about other easy steps you can take to prepare. Contributing: Elizabeth Wiese and Joel Shannon
