Even fifty-eight years after the first person was successfully sent to space, outer space is still a complete mystery to humankind. It is strange to think about how small each us are in comparison to the rest of the Milky Way galaxy and the universe beyond. There is so much we do not know. Does extraterrestrial life exist? How many stars are in the sky? Does ‘infinity’ capture the whole expanse of the cosmos?
Earth’s moon is fascinating. It controls the Earth’s ocean tides and keeps Earth in orbit, too. Since the moon follows a strict orbit, we will never view the dark side of the moon.
Newfound research states that Saturn now has beaten out Jupiter’s record 79 moons. A team of US scientists recently discovered twenty new moons orbiting Saturn, bringing its total to 82 moons. This discovery was made with the Subaru telescope. They claim there are more moons of Saturn yet to be discovered. For this, astronomers would need larger telescopes.
The twenty new moons are in three clusters, and the International Astronomical Union is holding a contest to name them. Each group’s moons need to be after giants in Norse, Inuit, and Gallic mythology, respectively.
If you want to name one these new Saturnian moons, submissions can be made by tweeting a suggested name for the moons to @SaturnLunacy and a reason why you chose it. Include the hashtag #NameSaturnsMoons.