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VIEW FROM MARS HILL

View from Mars Hill: Moonstruck: An overview of the planets' moons

Mimas

Mimas, one of Saturn's 274 moons, resembles the Death Star from Star Wars.

Back in 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon, scientists knew of just 31 other moons in our solar system. Fast forward to today, and the numbers have skyrocketed. The recent recognition of 128 additional moons around Saturn brought the total count to a staggering 421. These numbers only include moons of the traditional nine planets; many others orbit asteroids and other small celestial bodies.

The most recent discoveries are attributed to an international team of astronomers using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, a 3.5-meter instrument located on Hawaii’s Big Island. With these findings, Saturn now boasts 274 moons -- nearly triple that of second-place Jupiter, which has 95.





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