Jupiter was already the king of the solar system, and new discoveries give the massive planet another way to reign supreme: It now has the most moons.
Twelve new moons discovered orbiting Jupiter have been confirmed, bumping the count from 80 to 92, and knocking Saturn — which has 83 moons — down a peg.
NASA has returned with its monthly update on the viewable treats in the night sky during May 2021.
Moon, Saturn, Jupiter triangle
First up, early on Tuesday, May 4, you’ll be able to spot a large triangle formation comprising the moon, Saturn, and Jupiter. With clear skies and a body clock that keeps you awake in the small hours, you’ll be able to spot the formation in the east-southeast, with Saturn rising first at 2:17 a.m. ET. The moon and Jupiter will appear to the lower left of Saturn at around the same time, at 3:01 and 3:02 a.m., respectively, with Jupiter about 10 degrees further to the left of the moon.
On July 4, 2016, NASA’s Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter traveling at a blistering 130,000 mph. Its mission — to orbit the gas giant closer than any craft had done before — was not easy.
Like Earth, Jupiter is surrounded by a field of magnetic radiation. But Jupiter’s is much, much stronger. If Juno didn’t hit a precise region at the poles where the magnetic field is the weakest in its entry, it wouldn’t have survived; the radiation would have fried the craft.
Juno hit its mark, and Scott Bolton, who leads Mission Juno, called it “the hardest thing NASA has ever done.” Since then, Juno has been completing an orbit of Jupiter once every 53 days.
In June, Juno’s mission was approved to continue through at least July 2021. After that, NASA can choose to extend the mission — or it could end it, plunging the craft into Jupiter’s gauzy atmosphere, where it would burn up. If this dramatic ending sounds familiar, it’s because last year NASA crashed Cassini, the spacecraft that orbited Saturn, into that gas giant. It was awesome.
Dispatches From The Front 