How many more are there: scientists have confirmed the presence of Jupiter 12 new satellites

So many satellites, like Jupiter at the moment, are not found in any planet of the solar system. The very first of them were discovered at the beginning of the XVII century, and the existence of the last (79th in a row) scientists announced recently. And there is no doubt that this figure will still change.

The largest satellites of the gas giant - Europe, Io, Callisto and Ganymede were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 using a telescope. By the end of the 20th century, 30 satellites of Jupiter were already known, most of which were discovered using ground-based observations. But since 1999, thanks to flights of interplanetary aircraft and powerful new telescopes, another 49 satellites of the largest planet in the solar system have been discovered. There are so many of them that they no longer have time to come up with beautiful names, but simply assign a serial number.

The last 12 satellites were discovered in 2017 using the powerful Blanco telescope, which is installed in Chile. But only a year later, after additional research, scientists from Carnegie Mellon University (USA) confirmed the presence of satellites.

Part of the satellites of the planet rotates in the opposite direction to the rotation of Jupiter itself. These are the so-called retrograde satellites, most of which are united in a group called Ananke.

The two moons of Jupiter, Diya and Themisto, have two dates of discovery, since after discovery they disappeared from the field of view of astronomers. For this reason, scientists believed that they left Jupiter's orbit, but after re-discovery, they were returned to the list of satellites of the gas giant.

In addition to the satellites discovered, an artificial satellite revolves around Jupiter, launched from Earth to study the planet. This is a NASA device called Juno, which has been operating in orbit around the planet since 2016 and is powered by solar panels. An artificial satellite should collect data on the planet’s atmosphere, as well as help determine whether Jupiter has a solid core. Who knows, maybe Juno will be able to discover new moons of Jupiter, which are still hidden from the eyes of researchers.