• World
  • Feb 05

Jupiter now has 92 moons, most in solar system

• Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons around Jupiter, putting the total count at a record-breaking 92.

• That is more than any other planet in our solar system. 

• Saturn, the one-time leader, comes in a close second with 83 confirmed moons.

• The Jupiter moons were added recently to a list kept by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Centre.

• They were discovered using telescopes in Hawaii and Chile in 2021 and 2022, and their orbits were confirmed with follow-up observations.

• These newest moons range in size from 1 kilometer to 3 kilometers.

• Jupiter and Saturn are loaded with small moons, believed to be fragments of once bigger moons that collided with one another or with comets or asteroids. The same goes for Uranus and Neptune, but they're so distant that it makes moon-spotting even harder.

• Uranus has 27 confirmed moons, Neptune 14, Mars two and Earth one. 

The largest planet in the solar system 

• Jupiter lies between Mars and Saturn, making it the fifth planet in orbit around the Sun. 

• It is by far the most massive planet in the solar system, with a mass over 317 times that of Earth. 

• Jupiter is a gas giant, meaning that it is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, much of which is in the gaseous state.

• The planet’s familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. 

• Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.

• In April, the European Space Agency is sending a spacecraft to Jupiter to study the planet and some of its biggest, icy moons. 

• Next year, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper to explore Jupiter’s moon named Europa, which could harbor an ocean beneath its frozen crust.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store

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