Astronomers discover 12 New Moons Orbiting Jupiter

Nasa

Just recently I wrote a post about Callisto and Europa and already something has changed. Scientist has discovered not one or two but twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter. This brings Jupiter's natural satellites up to a staggering 79 in total, as of July 2018. It has more than any other planet, which we know of in our solar system. Since the mysterious planet nine is suspected to be a Super Earth, I'd place my bets, on Jupiter holding its title. On the subject of the secretive planet nine, the team led by Carnegie’s Scott Sheppard was searching for it in 2017; when Jupiter happened to be nearby.

Carnegie Science

One out of the 12 moons is gathering more interest than the others. This one has been nicknamed an 'odd ball' by the Carnegie Institution for Science and has been suggested to be called Valetudo. This moon is different because of its orbit. First let me explain how nine of these new moons has a retrograde orbit, this means they orbit in the opposite direction of the planet's spin. Two of the new moons orbit closer to Jupiter; in the prograde meaning they orbit the same way Jupiter’s spins.

This odd ball moon Valetudo orbits prograde but isn’t in the area where those types of moon orbit. Instead this moon orbits crosses the outer retrograde moons. This can cause a dangerous hazard because it might collide with another moon. I do think that would be a spectacular sight to see though.

It is thought that Valetudo might be a remnant, of a once larger prograde moon. At some point it might have collided creating some of the outer retrograde moons. This is another sign our solar system still has objects waiting to be found. I look forward to reading and learning more about Valetudo in the future.

Source
https://carnegiescience.edu/news/dozen-new-moons-jupiter-discovered-including-one-“oddball”