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Saturn's Moon Count Soars to 274 After Discovery of 128 New Moons

Astronomers have identified 128 new moons orbiting Saturn—an incredible breakthrough now officially confirmed by the International Astronomical Union. This pushes Saturn's total moon count to 274, easily overtaking Jupiter’s 95.

The search began between 2019 and 2021, when 62 potential moons were spotted. Follow-up observations in 2023, spanning three months, confirmed the presence of 128 new small satellites.

These newly discovered moons are tiny and irregular in shape, each just a few kilometers wide. Scientists believe they’re remnants of ancient objects that were captured by Saturn's gravity in the early days of the Solar System. Over time, violent collisions—possibly one just 100 million years ago—broke these bodies into smaller pieces. Many of them belong to Saturn’s Norse group.

The Norse group is made up of moons that orbit in the opposite direction (retrograde) with tilted and elliptical paths, far beyond the planet’s rings. Like the new discoveries, these moons have a jagged, potato-like look. A detailed report on 64 of the moons has been submitted to the Planetary Science Journal, with a preprint available on arXiv.

RESEARCH PAPER
Ashton et al., "Retrograde predominance of small Saturnian moons reiterates a recent retrograde collisional disruption", arXiv (2025)

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the feeling when you chew the next day

For the first time, scientists have observed ancient cave-dwelling olms—nicknamed “baby dragons” for their ghostly appearance—venturing out of their deep, dark habitats and into daylight surface springs in northern Italy. These reclusive amphibians, once believed to spend their entire lives in total darkness, are now being spotted in 15 different above-ground locations. Even more astonishing, one larval olm was seen exposed in the open, suggesting a surprising shift in behavior or even surface-level breeding.

Olms are highly adapted to cave life—blind, slow-growing, and capable of living over 100 years—so sightings in bright environments were considered nearly impossible. Researchers also noted these creatures feeding on earthworms, an above-ground delicacy never associated with their diet before. This behavioral evolution challenges decades of assumptions about Europe’s most enigmatic amphibian and raises urgent questions about climate adaptation and survival.

#BabyDragons #Olm #CaveCreatures #EvolutionInAction #WildlifeDiscovery