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Astronomers Discovered 12 New Jupiter Satellites
Astronomers have discovered 12 new Jupiter satellites as part of a quest for the Ninth Planet of the Solar System. Now, the total number of celestial bodies known in the gravitational "captivity" of the gaseous giant has risen to 79.
All newly discovered bodies are small, according to the website of the Carnegie Institute, reports news.enovosty.com.
Jupiter is the record holder of the number of well-known satellites among all the bodies of the solar system. The second place is Saturn with 62 well-known satellites, then the frozen giants Uranus (27), Neptune (14), as well as the dwarf planet Pluto (5). In addition, two satellites have about a dozen or so asteroids and Mars, and the presence of a satellite can boast more than one hundred bodies of the solar system.
About 40 Jupiter satellites were discovered by a group of astronomers led by Scott Sheppard in 2001-2004. In 2016-2017, scientists explored the sky zone, in which theoretically could be "Planet X" with one of the Magellan telescopes 6.5 meters and a number of other astronomical instruments. Coincidentally, Jupiter was near the study area and managed to open two unknown satellites before
In a new work, astronomers report 12 new objects opened in the spring of 2017 with the help of the telescope. 4 meters named Victor Blanco in Chile.
Nine new satellites are part of a retrograde outer ridge far from the planet (that is, the direction of motion in orbit does not coincide with Jupiter's direction of rotation). This riyah includes at least three different satellite clusters, which are considered the remains of three larger bodies destroyed in collisions with asteroids, comets or other satellites, and make a revolution around the planet for two years.
A narrow inner group that moves in a defunct direction, exerting a revolution around Jupiter in less than a year, and can also be fragments of a larger body.
One of the satellites was named "Valettuo" and could be considered Unnamed (less than one kilometer in diameter) among the satellites known to Jupiter today.
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