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On Oct. 14,NASA ’s Europa Clipper missionlaunched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida toward one of Jupiter ’s with child moons . The launching was thirstily anticipated by scientists around the world , in part because Europa , with its plumes of liquid water and gelid freshness , is reckon to be one of the best office in thesolar systemto search for lifetime beyond Earth .
But Europa is n’t Jupiter ’s only lunar month — far from it . formally , Jupiter has 95 moonsrecognized by the International Astronomical Union . But the question of how many natural satellites the planet truly has is a bit more complicated .
Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, creeps out from behind the gas giant in this Hubble Space Telescope image
Jupiter ’s four good - eff Moon are the Galilean moon , discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610 . They are name Ganymede , Callisto , Io and Europa , after figures in Hellenic mythology associated with the god Zeus . ( " Jupiter " is the ancient Roman name for Zeus . ) These lunar month are big — each is roughly the size of it of Earth’smoonor larger , and together , they make up around 99.97 % of the mass of all the cloth orbiting the gasoline whale . Due to their size and the presence of geologic processes like volcanism , these moons grow and preserve their own thin atmospheres .
relate : NASA reveals ' looking glass - smooth lake of cooling lava ' on surface of Jupiter ’s moon Io
Each of Jupiter ’s other 91 official moons has a diam bully than 0.6 mile ( 1 kilometer ) — but only 57 have names , and just eight have regular , nearly round orbits . However , they are " generally too little to hold onto any [ atmospheric ] vapor,“Statia Cook , an astronomer at New York University , tell Live Science in an email .
An artist’s impression of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft approaching Europa (white) with Jupiter in the background.
In addition to Jupiter ’s certified moon , one thousand of smaller " moonlets " — most of which are enamor asteroid and chunks of debris — encircle the planet .
Jupiter is n’t the only major planet in the solar organisation with uncounted moons . For ten , it has vied with its neighboring gas giantSaturnover which has the most natural satellites .
How many moons does Saturn have?
Saturn ’s eight largest moons were discover between 1671 and 1848 by several uranologist . For much of the twentieth century , the lunar month counts for Jupiter and Saturn remained comparatively unchanging at 12 and eight , respectively . But in 1979,NASA ’s Voyager probe uncovered two previously unsung Jovian moons and tot three lunar month to Saturn ’s repertoire .
These discoveries hinted that both planets might have more in their orbits , kick off more than 40 years of lunar month search . Between 2018 and2023 , the leader flip - flop several times . For now , though , Saturn take hold the title for the most moon , with awhopping 146 .
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Saturn ’s biggest moonshine by far is Titan , withalmost twice the massof Earth ’s moon . " Titan is really peculiar — it has swarm and rain , river and lakes — but made of hydrocarbon like methane instead of water , " Cook said . presently , it ’s one of the good candidates for extraterrestrial life in the solar system , alongside Europa .
next research will tell whether moons like Titan and Europa harbour the necessary ingredient for life . Europa Clipper will begin investigating its moon in 2030 , and NASA ’s Dragonfly probe is schedule to launch in 2028 andarrive at Titanin 2034 . They represent " an exciting whole tone frontward in our delegacy to investigate whether the conditions for life sentence could subsist beyond Earth , right here in our own solar organization , " Cook aver .
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