Scientists have discovered 128 new potato-shaped Moons revolving around Saturn, bringing the planet’s total number of moons to 274. All the newly found moons are irregular in shape, resembling potatoes.

According to The Guardian, Saturn now has twice as many moons as all other planets combined. Dr. Edward Ashton, a researcher at the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taiwan, confirmed the discovery, saying, “Sure enough, we found 128 new moons.”

He also said that Jupiter is unlikely to catch up to Saturn in terms of moon count. As of February 5, 2024, Jupiter has 95 known moons. The same team of astronomers had earlier discovered 62 Saturnian moons using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope.

The newly found moons have been officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union and assigned identification codes. Astronomers used the "shift and stack" technique to identify the new moons. This method involves capturing multiple images as the moon moves across the sky and combining them to make it bright enough to detect, The Guardian reported.

All 128 newly discovered moons are "irregular moons", small, potato-shaped objects just a few kilometers wide, the report added.

Scientists believe these moons were once part of a small group of objects that got pulled into Saturn’s orbit long ago. Over time, collisions broke them into smaller pieces, creating the many tiny moons seen today.

They think one major collision happened about 100 million years ago, which is quite recent in the history of the planet. The location of these moons suggests that this crash happened in a group of Saturn’s moons called the Norse group.

The Norse group consists of moons that move backward (retrograde), follow tilted and oval-shaped orbits, and are located beyond Saturn’s rings. Like the newly found moons, they are also small and potato-shaped.

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