John Wheeler: More moons for Saturn

FARGO — The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has recognized 128 new moons in orbit around the planet Saturn, giving the ringed planet more known moons than the rest of the planets in the solar system combined. The 128 newly discovered moons give Saturn a total of 254 moons in addition to its spectacular rings. Most of the these moons are only a few miles in diameter and many are irregularly shaped and are in orbits farther out from the planet than the rings and the larger moons.

This multitude of small, not very round objects are thought to be fragments of larger moons that broke apart in collisions earlier in our solar system's history. There is no lower limit of size in the astronomical definition of a moon, only that it was formed naturally, so there are likely many, many more moons too small to be discovered yet.]]>.