Washington: In a successful search beyond Earth’s orbit, astronomers have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter. Jupiter, called the gas giant, has now become the planet with the largest number of moons. Earlier, Saturn used to have the most number of moons, which has 83 moons, while Jupiter now has 92 moons. Dozens of new moons were discovered in observations made by astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington. New moon details and confirmations have been published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC).
The Jovian system is now a mini Solar System in itself with these 92 moons. Jupiter was already the largest planet in our solar system. Interestingly, the newly discovered moons complete their orbits in 340 days. Meanwhile, nine of the 12 are among the 71 outermost Jovian moons, which complete one orbit in more than 550 days.
The discovery of the moon comes just a year before NASA’s new mission, in which the American space agency is preparing to explore the Jovian worlds. The Europa Clipper mission will be the first dedicated and detailed study of the ocean beyond Earth. With this, NASA will determine whether this distant moon has favorable conditions for life or not. Significantly, Europa will try to answer specific questions about the ice shell, composition, and geology.
