Astronomers discover 128 new moons orbiting Saturn
Astronomers discover 128 new moons orbiting Saturn
Planet now has 274 moons, almost twice as many as all the other planets in the solar system combined
Summary
Astronomers have discovered 128 new moons around Saturn, bringing its total to 274, far surpassing Jupiter’s 95.
The moons, formally recognized by the International Astronomical Union, are small, irregularly shaped objects detected using the “shift and stack” technique.
Scientists believe they are remnants of larger celestial bodies shattered by collisions within the last 100 million years.
The discovery sheds light on the early solar system’s chaotic history and could help explain the origins of Saturn’s rings. Meanwhile, ESA’s Hera spacecraft will conduct a close flyby of Mars’s moon Deimos.
Are the 128 moons new, or newly discovered?
within the last 100 million years
Ah, it's both!
Great. More places for the protomolecule to hang out.
I've seen the expanse 3 times and I'm STILL confused how the protomolecule tjrns frona fungus type thing monster to a wormhole gate lol. Maybe the books will explain it better.
It basically needs critical mass.
The monsters were humans trying to engineer with thr molecule, that sample of protomolecule was not bound to become the ring.
On Eros, it was let loose specifically so that it could get enough mass to do what it was going to do. Think of it like a transistor- a few transistors can get you a NAND gate, but a LOT of them can give you a processor.
Once it had the critical mass and went to Venus, it was big enough that it could assimilate whatever it wanted into itself and gain the necessary mass to form the ring.
I view it like It’s a tool. Think “monolith” from 2001.
When is universe sandbox 2 going to update?
An excellent question!
Ring simulations are hard though, I don't expect to see a lot in that area.
I'd announce when I found just one but that wasn't good enough for some nerd
how about some fucking modesty, saturn?
"Moons". What do they count as moon? Anything they can track and identify? Anything larger than a football?
They took away Plutos planet status, but call every dirt blob a moon.
Same question.
Are those regular moons, or 'minor' moons?
I believe they're called moonlets. They're tiny moons, rocks that would be large enough to be called asteroids, but floating around in the rings.