May 16 2002
From The Space Library
The International Astronomical Union announced that astronomers had found 11 new moons around the planet Jupiter. The discovery increased the total number of known satellites around Jupiter to 39, more than any other planet in the solar system. Using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, astronomers from Cambridge University and the University of Hawaii had first detected the moons in December 2001. At 1- to 2-miles (1.6- to 3.2-kilometers) across, the newly discovered moons were far smaller than some of Jupiter's other moons, which are thousands of miles (or kilometers) wide. In addition, the astronomers had discovered that the satellites have irregular orbits and, unlike the planet's largest moons, spin in the opposite direction of Jupiter. The moons' irregular orbits around Jupiter indicate that they may have originally orbited the Sun. (Usha Lee McFarling, “11 New Moons of Jupiter Found,” Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2002; NASA JPL, “Astronomers Discover 11 More Small Moons of Jupiter,” news release, 17 May 2002.)
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