Another 12 Saturn satellites have been found.

2001/07/12 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Astronomia

Today it has been published in the journal Nature the discovery of 12 new satellites that revolve around Saturn. The satellites are small, 6 to 30 kilometers in diameter, with irregular and very inclined orbits.

With this discovery Saturn steals Jupiter from the title of the planet with more satellites. In the last five years, many new satellites have been found. Currently Saturn has 30 satellites we know, Jupiter 28, Uranus 21 and Neptune 8.

Saturn's new satellites have been detected by astronomer Brett Gladman's team from the French Riviera observatory. To do this they have used a medium-sized terrestrial telescope equipped with state-of-the-art electronic detectors. These terrestrial telescopes complement measurements made from space to detect small satellites orbiting away from the planets. From space, however, these satellites are hardly detectable.

The Solar System satellites give clues to the history of the planets. For example, Gladman's team has seen that Saturn's satellites are divided into families, as are Jupiter's far away asteroids and satellites. Satellite families are believed to have emerged from the removal of an original satellite by impact, or may be signs of the destruction of the original satellite. Their research allows us to obtain clues about how and when the planets of the Solar System captured the satellites and learn a little more about the past of our planet.

Large family

Although not yet detected, the Gladman team believes that there are many smaller satellite families around the giant planets of the Solar System. Therefore, they will now direct the telescope to Jupiter.