Observations using the Subaru Telescope and other telescopes led to the discovery of swarms of potential new moons around Jupiter. Of these, 12 have been confirmed as moons of Jupiter, and many more are awaiting further observations for confirmation.
A team, led by Scott Sheppard at the Carnegie Institute for Science,
noticed that Jupiter was near their target field locations while
searching for new objects in the outer Solar System beyond Pluto. So the
team decided to look for new Jovian moons in the foreground while
looking for new outer-Solar-System objects in the background. They
performed their observations with the Subaru Telescope in September 2021
and the Blanco 4-meter Telescope with the Dark Energy Camera in August
2022.
The team’s ingenuity was rewarded with many new candidates.
Follow-up observations using the 6.5-meter Magellan Telescopes in Chile
characterized 12 of those candidates well enough to be declared moons.
They will now be given official numbers and names. The team will
continue to monitor the additional candidates to see if they can
increase the number of known moons even more.
The newly confirmed
satellites bring the number of known moons around Jupiter to 92,
exceeding the 83 known moons around Saturn. But caution is needed in
making direct comparisons. Because Saturn is farther away, it is more
difficult to spot small, faint satellites around it. Sheppard comments,
"We believe when comparing moons of the same size range, Saturn has more
than Jupiter, but both planets have many, many of these small moons."
One
motivation to look for new moons around Jupiter is that ESA’s JUICE
(JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) and NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft are
planned to enter the Jovian system in the near future. Sheppard
explains, "The hope is that if we find enough moons, one of them will
just happen to be close enough to the spacecraft’s trajectory to get
close-up flyby images of it while the spacecraft is passing through the
outer Jovian system to the inner Jovian system."
These findings were announced in late January by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center.
Maunakea, which has cultural, historical, and natural significance in Hawai`i.
Relevant Links- Carnegie Institution for Science February 10, 2023 Press Release
- Saturn Surpasses Jupiter After Discovery of 20 New Moons (Subaru Telescope October 7, 2019 Press Release)
- Astronomers Find 12 New Moons, One Oddball, Orbiting Jupiter (Subaru Telescope July 20, 2018 Press Release)
Source: Subaru Telescope
