[Rockhounds] Saturn Secures Its Title as the ‘Moon King’ With Major Haul of New Moons

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

Saturn just solidified its title as ‘moon king’ with an updated tally of
274 satellites orbiting the gas giant. The record-breaking statistic puts
Saturn way ahead of its moon-bearing competitors, as now the ringed planet
is officially orbited by almost twice as many moons as all other planets in
the solar system combined.

An international team of astronomers made the recent discovery of 128 new
moons around Saturn using the Canada France Hawaii telescope. Saturn
regained its title as moon king last year with the discovery of 62 new moons
<https://science.ubc.ca/news/saturn-now-leads-moon-race-62-newly-discovered-satellites>,
bringing its total to 145 moons. The planet’s main competition in the solar
system, Jupiter, has just 95 confirmed moons.

The two gas giants have been locked in a battle over who has the most moons
in their orbit for years, but it may be safe to say Saturn has won the
contest by a landslide.

“Based on our projections, I don’t think Jupiter will ever catch up,”
Edward Ashton, postdoctoral fellow in the Institute for Astronomy and
Astrophysics at Academia Sincia, and lead researcher behind the discovery,
said in a University of British Columbia statement
<https://news.ubc.ca/2025/03/saturn-128-new-moons/>.
https://gizmodo.com/saturn-secures-its-title-as-the-moon-king-with-major-haul-of-new-moons-2000575070