Tiny, lumpy, and whizzing around their planet in all directions. And not just one or two of them, but an entire swarm. Welcome to the surprising new moons of Saturn.
Astronomer Edward Ashton led the team that recently discovered an astonishing 63 tiny new natural satellites orbiting around the sixth planet from the Sun. His findings pushed Saturn past Jupiter for the most moons in our solar system. No one has ever found this many moons before.
Ashton only located the new moons by breaking many of the unwritten rules about how and where to search for moons and how they should be expected to behave. He began this research while a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in Canada and now works at Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan. His discoveries may change the way we look at all moons-including our own.
Why Keep Searching?
Astronomers have been finding moons in orbit around Saturn for centuries. It began not long after the introduction of the telescope, which happened in 1608. Dutch science pioneer Christiaan Huygens discovered the first known moon of Saturn in 1655; it was named Titan.
By using ever-more powerful instruments over the years, astronomers found nearly a hundred more moons. So, why expect to find even more than that? "Based on a planet's size and other traits, we can estimate how the moons that orbit around that planet should vary in size and what percentage are big and small," Ashton explains. "For Saturn, smaller moons were still missing from the total."
Tough to Spot
But these missing moons around Saturn would prove difficult to spot. "They'd be very small and dim," Ashton says. "Plus, they'd be moving rapidly, so they wouldn't stay in the same place long."
Denne historien er fra March 2024-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Denne historien er fra March 2024-utgaven av Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
THE PROBLEM WITH PALM OIL
Palm oil is all around you. It’s in sugary snacks like cookies and candy bars. It’s in lipstick and shampoo and pet food.
SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.
