more moons for Saturn

[notFritzArgelander]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/07/world/sa ... 4QysPbVeJA

[Thefatkitty]

Well, that's neat. For my whole life, Jupiter always had more known Moons than Saturn.

The times, they are a' changin...

[Thefatkitty]

I just updated my "wall chart" .... Not counting Pluto, it would seem the other 8 planets have a total of 205 Moons altogether. Throw in Pluto, and that's 210. And I know there's a few TNO's with Moons...

I really need a life

IMG_9129 (2).jpg

All the best,

[notFritzArgelander]

I just updated my "wall chart" .... Not counting Pluto, it would seem the other 8 planets have a total of 205 Moons altogether. Throw in Pluto, and that's 210. And I know there's a few TNO's with Moons...

I really need a life


IMG_9129 (2).jpg


All the best,

I'd count Pluto though. If the TNO were spheriform... those too!

[GCoyote]

With many of these new "moons" on the order of a few miles in diameter, I predict an IAU conference to debate the definition of a "moon".

[Richard]

Well Saturn was really well documented for many years thanks to the Cassini mission , so if a similar thing happens to Uranus/Neptune who knows how many more Moons are there, and yes is a rock 1km in Diameter a Moon?

[notFritzArgelander]

Well Saturn was really well documented for many years thanks to the Cassini mission , so if a similar thing happens to Uranus/Neptune who knows how many more Moons are there, and yes is a rock 1km in Diameter a Moon?

If it's of natural origin, yes.

[MrShorty]

An interesting thing that stood out to me was how many of the newly discovered moons were in retrograde orbits -- suggesting captured objects. An internet search did not immediately find a good answer -- though someone over at quora claimed that about half of the moons that we know about (around all planets/dwarf planets) are in retrograde orbits. Not sure that it means anything, but it caught my eye.

[notFritzArgelander]

An interesting thing that stood out to me was how many of the newly discovered moons were in retrograde orbits -- suggesting captured objects. An internet search did not immediately find a good answer -- though someone over at quora claimed that about half of the moons that we know about (around all planets/dwarf planets) are in retrograde orbits. Not sure that it means anything, but it caught my eye.

The captured moons are not limited to those in retrograde orbits. One would expect that ALL of the retrogrades are captured and that the odds of the prograde moons being captured too should be similar. Not all captured objects are small tiny and asteroid sized. Neptune's large moon Triton is a prime example of a retrograde captured large moon in hydrostatic equilibrium.

So ALL retrograde moons are captured and some (an equal number, more or less) prograde moons are captured.