Jupiter and Saturn had been trading the title for the most moons of any planet in the solar system. In February 2023, Jupiter, the larger planet, pulled ahead. Twelve new moons had been discovered, pushing its total number of moons to 92. But just a few months later, in May, another team of astronomers announced they had found 62 new moons orbiting Saturn (plus one moon a little earlier), bringing its total to 146 moons. This finding, which nearly doubled the number of known Saturn moons, marked the most moons ever discovered at one time.
The astronomer who led the team behind the impressive Saturn moon discovery was Edward Ashton. He began this research while a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in Canada in 2019. He now works as a postdoctoral fellow at the Academia Sinica's Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan. His research focuses on the solar system.
FINDING ALL THESE NEW MOONS WASN'T EXACTLY AN OVERNIGHT DISCOVERY. WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE?
It certainly wasn't a quick discovery. I started this research almost five years ago.
This story is from the March 2024 edition of Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the March 2024 edition of Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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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.
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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.
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Dr. Ape Will See You Now
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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.
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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.
