Astronomers on Tuesday announced the discovery of 10 more moons of Jupiter, bringing to 79 the number known to be circling the giant gas planet, including one "wrong-way driver" that appears destined to crash into other moons sharing its orbital highway.
All the newly identified moons are relatively small. While Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun, has large moons such as Ganymede — the biggest in the solar system with a diameter of 3,273 miles (5,268 km) — the new ones range in size from about six-tenths of a mile (1 km) to 2.5 miles (4 km). That is tiny compared to Jupiter's diameter of 88,846 miles (142,984 km).
A research team led by astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington has identified 12 small Jovian moons, including the 10 described on Tuesday. Sheppard said these moons were probably objects that formed near Jupiter during the early days of the solar system and were "captured" by the planet's strong gravitational pull.