Scientists Discover 15 More Moons

Jupiter has joined the triple-digit moon club, but Saturn is still running away with the trophy. The Minor Planet Center on March 16 announced the confirmation of 11 additional moons around Saturn and four around Jupiter, pushing their official tallies to 285 and 101, respectively. These latest finds are tiny, irregular satellites—each only about 2 miles wide and so dim their brightness ranks between magnitude 25 and 27, far fainter than what the naked eye or even backyard telescopes can see, per Space.com.

They also orbit far from their host planets, which makes tracking them tricky. Many were spotted by comparing older images with fresh data. Now known by designations like "S/2020 S 48" and "S/2018 J 5," the moons are unlikely to be given proper names. Such faint satellites around Jupiter and Saturn are only named if they are of special scientific interest, EarthSky reports. The Saturn discoveries were attributed to a team led by Edward Ashton, who's helped locate the majority of the planet's moons. The combined findings bring the total number of known moons in the solar system to 442, per Space.com—and astronomers expect the count to keep climbing.