Astronomers have discovered 12 new satellites of Jupiter | Express

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Astronomers discover 12 new satellites of Jupiter as part of the quest for the ninth planet in the solar system.Now, the total number of Celestial bodies known in the gravitational "captivity" of the gaseous giant rose to 79.

All newly discovered bodies are small, according to the website of the Carnegie Institute news.enovosty.com

Jupiter is the holder of the record by the number of known satellites among all the bodies of the solar system, Saturn is the second to 62 well-known satellites, then the glacial giants Uranus (27), Neptune (14) and the dwarf planet Pluto (5). In addition, two satellites have about a dozen 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 studied the sky zone in which theoretically could be planet X using one of the Magellan telescopes 6.5 meters and a number of other astronomical instruments. Coincidentally, Jupiter was near the site of the investigation and was able to open two of his previously unknown satellites

In the same work, astronomers report 12 new objects opened in the spring of 2017 with the help of A 4-meter telescope named Victor Blanco in Chile. . To confirm the discovery, observations were made on several ground-based telescopes, such as the "Gemini" and the "Subaru" of 8 meters, which allowed to calculate their orbits

Nine satellites are part of a external retrograde rhole far from the planet. (that is, the direction of movement in orbit does not coincide with the direction of rotation of Jupiter). This region 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 in about

. a narrow inner group that moves in a defunct direction, exerting a revolution around Jupiter for less than a year, and can also be fragments of a larger body.

One of the satellites received the name "Valettuo" and could be considered nshym (diameter less than one kilometer) of satellites currently known to Jupiter. It moves in the opposite direction to the outer retrograde group of satellites, crossing their orbits.