Astronomers have confirmed the discovery of 128 new moons orbiting Saturn, significantly increasing its total to 274 and cementing its status as the planet with the most natural satellites in the solar system, Gizmodo reports.
This latest finding puts Saturn far ahead of its closest competitor, Jupiter, which has 95 confirmed moons.
The new moons were identified by an international team of astronomers using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. This discovery follows a similar announcement last year when Saturn regained the “moon king” title with the identification of 62 additional moons. Now, with its updated count, Saturn has nearly twice as many moons as all the other planets in the solar system combined.
“For years, Jupiter and Saturn have been competing for the title of having the most moons, but with this discovery, it’s safe to say Saturn has taken a commanding lead,” said Edward Ashton, a researcher at the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Academia Sinica and the lead scientist on the study.
The research team monitored the area around Saturn between 2019 and 2021, using a technique that combined multiple images to enhance signals from distant objects. Their initial observations revealed 62 new moons, with additional potential candidates awaiting confirmation. In 2023, they revisited these sky fields over three months to verify whether the remaining objects were indeed moons. The International Astronomical Union officially recognized the discovery this week.
The newly identified moons are classified as irregular satellites—small celestial bodies that likely formed from the remnants of larger moons that shattered due to collisions with other moons or passing comets. Many of them belong to the Mundilfari subgroup, a collection of Saturnian moons that may have originated from a large impact within the last 100 million years.
“Our carefully planned multi-year campaign has yielded a bonanza of new moons that provide insights into the evolution of Saturn’s natural satellite system,” Ashton explained.
With the current technology, astronomers believe they may have reached the limit of moon detection around Saturn, as well as other distant planets like Uranus and Neptune. While future advancements could allow scientists to discover even more moons, for now, Saturn firmly holds onto its title as the solar system’s “moon king.”
