This fall, a recent study quantitatively setting the appearance of the guest on Earth’s second moon, found that Saturn has 128 new moons in orbit.
According to NASA, astronomers confirmed the discovery on March 11, bringing official sums of Saturn to 274.
It wasn’t a competition, but if that was the case, this discovery means that Saturn has almost doubled the odds it has already won. The second planet with the most moon is Jupiter, with 95 recorded in orbit.
According to a report by the New York Times, these moons could have been formed by “space smashups” that sent debris into Saturn’s orbit around 100 million years ago.
“Many of these months are rocks only a few miles away. They are small compared to ours. This is 2,159 miles in diameter,” the report explained. “However, as long as they have trackable trajectories around the parent body, scientists cataloging objects in the solar system consider them as the moon.”
According to Science.com, a team of astronomers from Taiwan, Canada, France and the United States first discovered a new batch of Saturn’s moons in 2023. The month was ratified by the International Astronomical Union in March 2025.
NYTIMES explained how, by using the Canadian France-Hawaiian Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the team “explained how they “observed patches of space near Saturn, allowing them to track the movements of previously unknown moons.”
NYTIMES spoke with team member Edward Ashton. Edward Ashton explained that it is necessary to prove that the object is orbited around the Earth.
The report stated that Ashton, who has the right to naming these objects, is responsible for finding 62 new Saturn’s new moons two years ago.
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