Figure 1: The discovery images for the newly found very
distant prograde moon of Saturn. They were taken on the Subaru
Telescope with about one hour between each image. The background stars
and galaxies do not move, while the newly discovered Saturnian moon,
highlighted with an orange bar, shows motion between the two images.
(Photographs are courtesy of Scott Sheppard.)
Using the Subaru Telescope, a team led by Carnegie's Scott S. Sheppard
has found 20 new moons orbiting Saturn. This brings the ringed planet's
total number of moons to 82, surpassing Jupiter, which has 79. The
discovery was announced on October 7, 2019, by the International
Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center.
Each of the newly discovered moons is about five kilometers, or three
miles, in diameter. Seventeen of them orbit the planet backwards, or in
a retrograde direction, meaning their movement is opposite of the
planet's rotation around its axis. The other three moons orbit in the
prograde—the same direction as Saturn rotates.
Two of the prograde moons are closer to the planet and take about two
years to travel once around Saturn. The more-distant retrograde moons
and one of the prograde moons each take more than three years to
complete an orbit.
"Studying the orbits of these moons can reveal their origins, as well
as information about the conditions surrounding Saturn at the time of
its formation," Sheppard explained.
The outer moons of Saturn appear to be grouped into three different
clusters in terms of the inclinations of the angles at which they are
orbiting around the planet. Two of the newly discovered prograde moons
fit into a group of outer moons with inclinations of about 46 degrees
called the Inuit group, as they are named after Inuit mythology. These
moons may have once comprised a larger moon that was broken apart in the
distant past. Likewise, the newly announced retrograde moons have
similar inclinations to other previously known retrograde Saturnian
moons, indicating that they are also likely fragments from a once-larger
parent moon that was broken apart. These retrograde moons are in the
Norse group, with names coming from Norse mythology. One of the newly
discovered retrograde moons is the farthest known moon around Saturn.
"This kind of grouping of outer moons is also seen around Jupiter,
indicating violent collisions occurred between moons in the Saturnian
system or with outside objects such as passing asteroids or comets,"
explained Sheppard.
The other newly found prograde moon has an inclination near 36
degrees, which is similar to the other known grouping of inner prograde
moons around Saturn called the Gallic group. But this new moon orbits
much farther away from Saturn than any of the other prograde moons,
indicating it might have been pulled outwards over time or might not be
associated with the more inner grouping of prograde moons.
If a significant amount of gas or dust were present when a larger
moon broke apart and created these clusters of smaller moon fragments,
there would have been strong frictional interactions between the smaller
moons and the gas and dust, causing them to spiral into the planet.
"In the Solar System's youth, the Sun was surrounded by a rotating
disk of gas and dust from which the planets were born. It is believed
that a similar gas-and-dust disk surrounded Saturn during its
formation," Sheppard said. "The fact that these newly discovered moons
were able to continue orbiting Saturn after their parent moons broke
apart indicates that these collisions occurred after the
planet-formation process was mostly complete and the disks were no
longer a factor."
Figure 2: An artist's conception of the 20 newly
discovered moons orbiting Saturn. These discoveries bring the planet's
total moon count to 82, surpassing Jupiter for the most in our Solar
System. Studying these moons can reveal information about their
formation and about the conditions around Saturn at the time.
Illustration is courtesy of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
(Illustration is courtesy of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Saturn image is courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute.
Starry background courtesy of Paolo Sartorio/Shutterstock.)
"Using some of the largest telescopes in the world, we are now
completing the inventory of small moons around the giant planets," says
Scott Sheppard. "They play a crucial role in helping us determine how
our Solar System's planets formed and evolved."
Last year, Sheppard discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter and Carnegie hosted an online contest to name five of them.
"I was so thrilled with the amount of public engagement over the
Jupiter moon-naming contest that we've decided to do another one to name
these newly discovered Saturnian moons," Sheppard said. "This time, the
moons must be named after giants from Norse, Gallic, or Inuit
mythology." Contest details are available here.
