Science and Space

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Saturn's new moons

U.S. astronomers have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Saturn. All the newly discovered moons are small, irregular bodies — probably only about 1 mile to 4 miles in diameter. They are distant from Saturn and each takes about two years to complete one orbit. All but one of these moons circles the ringed planet in the opposite direction to its larger moons.

The discoveries were made on December 12, 2004 using the 8.2-meter diameter Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

If confirmed, the new moons would bring Saturn’s count to 46. Jupiter, with 63, still has the most moons. Uranus has 27 and Neptune 13.

posted by: kyawoo at 19:43 | link | comments |
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