DTM postdoctoral Hubble Fellow, Scott Sheppard, along with two collaborators at the University of Hawaii, David Jewitt and Jan Kleyna, have discovered 12 new moons orbiting the planet Saturn. Using the 8.2-m Subaru Telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, the group first observed the moons on 12 December 2004. Following the initial observation, they undertook follow-up observations in January, February, and March of 2005 in order to confirm their findings, using the Subaru, Gemini North, and Keck telescopes.

With this new discovery the total number of confirmed moons orbiting Saturn has now risen to 46, as compared with 63 around Jupiter and 13 around Neptune. The group’s survey of the moons around Saturn has important scientific implications beyond a simple cataloguing of objects. The new moons follow highly irregular orbits at distances 17 and 23 million miles from the planet itself. Current models describing the systematics of irregular satellites cannot explain how or why these moons behave in the way that they do, forcing astrophysicists to reevaluate our understanding of the origin of such objects, as well as the planet formation process itself.

For more information please visit the group’s website.