How We Found Jupiter's 79 (At Least) Moons

The Crux
By Korey Haynes
Dec 27, 2018 10:18 PMMay 17, 2019 9:39 PM
a tiny moon in front of jupiter
The moon Io is tiny compared to mighty Jupiter, but still among the easiest of Jupiter's many moons to spot. (Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/SSI/JPL/ESA/NASA)

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Jupiter is king of the planets. It’s huge, it’s bright in our night skies, and even four of its comparatively tiny moons are bright enough to see with the most basic of telescopes. We’ve sent nine probes either into orbit or on a close flyby of the planet. And yet, as recently as this past year, we discovered not one, but twelve new moons around Jupiter, bringing the total to 79. How haven’t we exhausted this particular moon mine yet?

The Easy Targets First

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