Astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., has released a report on his observations of the solar system over the past two years, detailing the discovery of 12 new moons of Jupiter, as reported by the monthly astronomy magazine Sky & Telescope and the foreign technology website CNET. Astronomer Scott Sheppard from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC, has just published a report detailing his observations of the solar system over the past two years. He reveals that Jupiter now has 12 new moons.
Jupiter now has more moons than any other planet in the solar system, surpassing Saturn’s previous record of 83 moons.
Even though it takes more than 340 days to complete one orbit of Jupiter, “Sky and Telescope,” the magazine noted that many of Jupiter’s moons might be too small to warrant individual names.
Because satellite paths depend on the gravitational pull of the planet and the sun, and because the entire trajectory of the satellite must be tracked to prove that it is indeed orbiting the earth, Central News Agency reports that analyzing observations and calculating the trajectories of planetary satellites is more complicated than observing asteroids or comets.
