天文學(xué)家認(rèn)為土星是擁有衛(wèi)星最多的行星。土星已經(jīng)取代太陽(yáng)系最大的行星木星,成為“衛(wèi)星之王”。天文學(xué)家最近發(fā)現(xiàn)了20顆圍繞土星運(yùn)行的新衛(wèi)星,使土星的衛(wèi)星總數(shù)達(dá)到82顆。這將擁有79個(gè)天體的木星擠到了第二位。每個(gè)新發(fā)現(xiàn)的衛(wèi)星直徑至少有5公里。其中有17顆衛(wèi)星是反向繞土星運(yùn)行的,而完成一顆土星的軌道需要3年多的時(shí)間。天文學(xué)家使用位于夏威夷的強(qiáng)大的斯巴魯望遠(yuǎn)鏡發(fā)現(xiàn)了這些衛(wèi)星。研究小組現(xiàn)在將尋找直徑約一公里的衛(wèi)星。
Lead astronomer Dr Scott Sheppard commented on the perceived origins of the new moons. He said: "We don't think they formed with the planet. We think they were captured by the planet in the past." He posited that Saturn sucked in a swirling mixture of gas and dust to form the moons. Dr Shepperd added: "We think these moons interacted with that gas and dust. These were comets or asteroids that happened to be passing by....They were captured into orbits around the planet rather than falling into the planet. We think these are the last remnants of what formed Saturn." The moons will be named in a competition after giants from Gallic, Inuit and Norse mythology.
首席天文學(xué)家斯科特·謝潑德博士對(duì)新月的起源進(jìn)行了評(píng)論。他說(shuō):“我們認(rèn)為它們不是由行星形成的。我們認(rèn)為它們?cè)谶^(guò)去曾被地球捕獲。”他假設(shè)土星吸入了一種旋轉(zhuǎn)的氣體和塵?;旌衔?,形成了衛(wèi)星。Shepperd博士補(bǔ)充道:“我們認(rèn)為這些衛(wèi)星與氣體和塵埃相互作用。這些是碰巧經(jīng)過(guò)的彗星或小行星。它們被捕獲進(jìn)入圍繞行星的軌道,而不是落入行星。我們認(rèn)為這些是土星形成的最后殘余。”這些衛(wèi)星將在一次競(jìng)賽中以來(lái)自高盧、因紐特和挪威神話的巨人來(lái)命名。