This is known as a retrograde direction. The other three moons orbit in a prograde direction - the same direction as Saturn rotates. Two of the prograde moons take about two years to travel once around the ringed planet. The more-distant retrograde moons and one of the prograde moons each take more than three years to complete an orbit. The outer moons in the new haul appear to be grouped into three distinct clusters, based on the inclinations of the angles at which they orbit the planet.
Scientists think the retrograde and prograde moons are the broken up remnants of at least three larger bodies. These bigger objects were smashed up by collisions, either between distinct moons or with outside objects such as passing asteroids.
One of the newly discovered retrograde objects is the furthest known saturnian satellite. If an asteroid happens to be passing by, you can't capture it today because you can't dissipate its energy," Dr Sheppard told BBC News. However, in the Solar System's youth, when Saturn was in the process of forming, a cloud, or "disc", of dust and gas surrounded the planet.
Furthermore, these planets are so far out in the solar system water would if frozen which explains Saturn's rings of ice. Infact, we can show that the ice can form moons by looking at some of the moons of Uranus, some of them are half made of ice! A few of the outer moons of our planets are captured asteroids. Phoebe, which is a moon of Saturn, is believed to have been a captured asteroid.
Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why does the planet Saturn have numerous 62 moons compared to the rest of the planets in the Solar System?
Ask Question. Asked 5 years, 9 months ago. Active 5 years, 9 months ago. Viewed 4k times. It has everything from tiny moonlets less than 1 kilometer across to the enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. Wikipedia Why does Saturn have more moons? Enceladus is an icy moon known for spraying huge plumes of water up through its atmosphere into space; during the Cassini mission, astronomers were able to sample these geysers and that's how they discovered the ocean underneath its icy crust.
Saturn is most well-known for its big, beautiful rings , which are made of ice and rock. Some of these rocks and ice chunks are so large that they help shape the rings; NASA classifies these as " moonlets. Some moonlets were caused by collisions in Saturn's rings, such as a larger moon breaking up at some point in Saturn's past.
Saturn's moons have many names , from cultures around the world. Saturn's provisional moons don't typically have a name until they are confirmed ; instead their names will comprise a string of letters and numbers that denote its discovery year and other details for astronomers. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar.
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