20 new moons around Saturn discovered by astronomers

On October 7, 2019, astronomers discovered 20 more moons around planet Saturn, meaning that Saturn has a total of 82 moons. Sheppard always knew there's a possibility that more could be discovered.Show more

"But now, new computer techniques have made it much easier to analyze multiple years," Sheppard said.

He re-checked the data and the images confirm that 20 bright spots revolve around Saturn.

SCOTT S. SHEPPARD shows it to us and has marked it. Here you see the moon S/2004 S24 made with the Subaru telescope with 1 hour time between the two frames. The Subaru Telescope is an 8.2-meter optical-infrared telescope located at Maunakea, Hawaii.

Fact: The very first moon of Saturn was discovered in 1655 by the Dutchman Christiaan Huygens (His hair is fantastic). The moon that he discovered is Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.

Seventeen of the new moons orbit in the opposite direction of Saturn’s rotation also called retrograde motion. Each of these "retrograde" moons takes more than three years to trace out one orbit.

The other three moons orbit Saturn in the same direction as the planet’s rotation which is called prograde motion. Two of these moons take roughly two years to finish one orbit, while the third takes more than three years to go around Saturn.