The 12 new moons of Jupiter were discovered thanks to telescopes located in Hawaii and Chile in 2021 and 2022.
Astronomers from the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center have confirmed the discovery of 12 new moons for Jupiter .
The stars were discovered using telescopes from Hawaii and Chile in 2021 and 2022, giving a total of 92 moons for the planet in the solar system.
New moons, new research
These new moons range in size from 1 to 3 kilometers in diameter, and because of that, only half of them couldn’t get a name: they’re not big enough.
“I hope we can get a close-up image of one of these outer moons in the near future to better determine its origins,” said Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution, who was part of the team.
In April, the European Space Agency will send a spacecraft to Jupiter to study the planet and some of its largest icy moons . And next year, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper to explore Jupiter ‘s namesake moon , which could harbor an ocean beneath its frozen crust.
moons of the solar system
The theories about the moons of these plans are that they are fragments of larger moons that collided with each other or are comets and asteroids that fell before the gravity of said stars.
Jupiter is the leader of the moons , followed by Saturn with 83 confirmed. Uranus has 27 confirmed moons ; Neptune, 14; Mars, two, and Earth, one. Venus and Mercury have none.