noaoann18014 — Announcement

Twelve More Jovian Moons

One’s an Oddball

30 July 2018

Observations made with DECam on the CTIO Blanco Telescope have led to the discovery of 12 additional moons of Jupiter, including its smallest known moon, Valetudo, less than one kilometer in diameter. Jupiter is now known to have 79 moons, a staggeringly large number compared to Earth’s single moon. In addition to its small size, Valetudo is also unusual because it orbits out of the plane of the other moons.

Click the image to view a video of these newly discovered moons’ orbits.

Links

• Read more in the Carnegie Science press release.