Astronomers have recently identified 128 new moons

 Astronomers have recently identified 128 new Moons

Astronomers have recently identified 128 new moons orbiting Saturn, increasing the planet’s total to 274. These small moons, some just a few miles across, were discovered in 2023 using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Despite their tiny size compared to Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which is 2,159 miles in diameter, these objects are officially classified as moons because they follow an orbital path around the planet.

These newly discovered moons are irregular in shape and have unusual orbits. They orbit Saturn at steep angles and often travel in the opposite direction of the planet's major moons. They are located between 6.5 million and 18 million miles away from Saturn, much farther than Titan and Enceladus, which orbit much closer.

The discovery suggests that Saturn has experienced multiple collisions in its past, which may have led to the capture of these moons. Some of the moons could be debris from large objects that collided elsewhere in the solar system, while others may be fragments from collisions between Saturn’s larger moons.

Among these new moons, one group—named Mundilfari—contains 47 of the 128. Scientists suspect that this cluster could be the result of a collision that occurred within Saturn's orbit as recently as 100 million years ago, a relatively short time in cosmic terms. The research team, led by Edward Ashton from the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, is working to study these moons further, potentially using advanced tools like the James Webb Space Telescope for more detailed observation.

The discovery highlights the dynamic and ever-changing nature of our solar system, as the moons' orbits and history offer valuable clues about the planet's formation and the larger processes that shape celestial bodies.