With its emblematic rings and its procession of satellites, Saturn has been essential for decades as one of the most fascinating stars of the solar system. But a recent discovery has just turned the accounts. Thanks to the progress of observation techniques, astronomers have identified 128 new moons from Saturn. A dizzying figure that confirms its status as a planet with multiple satellites and relegates its rivals far behind.
Until 2023, Jupiter and Saturn regularly disputed the title of planet with multiple moons. In February 2024, Jupiter had 95 recognized moons, leaving a still reasonable gap with Saturn. But the new observations made using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope made it possible to identify an impressive wave of additional moons, thus confirming the overwhelming domination of the planet to the rings. The Guardian reports that it is a team led by Edward Ashton, a postdoctoral researcher at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, who is at the origin of this major advance. By combining images taken over several months in 2023 thanks to the technique of “Shift and Stack”, which makes it possible to accumulate and amplify the signals of small celestial objects, the researchers were able to confirm the presence of these moons which hitherto escaped the classic observation instruments.
According to Edward Ashton, quoted by Science Alert, these results definitively seal Saturn's advance on Jupiter. The majority of new moons are very small, which made their detection particularly complex. They have nevertheless been officially recorded and will be assigned names from Nordic, Gallic and Inuit mythologies, according to the usual nomenclature for the satellites of Saturn.
Les moons de Saturn, vestiges of old collisions
These 128 new moons are nothing like the well -known giants that are Titan or Enceladus. They belong to the category of irregular moons, celestial objects a few kilometers in diameter which follow elliptical, inclined and often retrograde trajectories. Their presence in large numbers intrigues astronomers, who see it as a revealing index of the chaotic dynamics that have marked the history of the solar system.
According to Brett Gladman, professor of astronomy at the University of British Columbia and member of the research team, quoted by Radio Canada, these moons are probably from the fragmentation of a larger satellite. A violent collision, which occurred about a hundred million years ago, would have broken this object into a multitude of songs which were then captured by the gravity of Saturn. This scenario would explain why these new moons are grouped into families sharing similar orbital characteristics.
One of the most intriguing groups is that of the Nordic moons. These satellites follow a retrograde orbit, a sign of a major event in the history of the planet. More and more clues suggest a series of recent collisions in this region. This reinforces the idea that Saturn has experienced an intense activity in terms of gravitational interactions.
The study of these moons could also help understand the origin of Saturn's rings. Some researchers believe that these structures are the remains of a satellite destroyed by the gravity of the planet. This hypothesis, still debated, is based on recent observations. Some moons discovered recently have orbits that suggest that they come from old dislocated objects.
How far will the race for moons go?
Technology identifies ever smaller objects. A question then arises: where does the definition of a moon stop? So far, any body in stable orbit around a planet was a natural satellite. But the recent discoveries question this classification in question.
The international astronomical union sets a threshold to limit the number of names named. Only the moons of more than a kilometer in diameter receive an official designation. However, the smallest objects remain satellites. The border between moon and rocky fragment therefore becomes blurred. This challenge complicates the precise mapping of the solar system.
The future exploration of Saturn could make it possible to refine these distinctions. Improving telescopes and the use of new observation methods will undoubtedly open the way for new discoveries. Thousands of additional moons could still be hidden in the shadow of Saturn, waiting to be identified thanks to more efficient instruments.
The study of these moons makes it possible to better understand the gravitational interactions between the celestial bodies. They reveal an ancient era when immense forces shaped the planetary orbits. These titanic forces caused chain collisions and upset the organization of the solar system. By continuing this research, astronomers hope to retrace this hectic story. They seek to understand how these events influenced the training of planets and their satellites. These phenomena still continue to shape the evolution of the solar system today.
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