Jupiter now has the most moons in the solar system

Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons around Jupiter, putting the total count at a record-breaking 92.

Saturn, the one-time leader, comes in a close second with 83 confirmed moons.

The Jupiter moons were added recently to a list kept by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center

They were discovered using telescopes in Hawaii and Chile in 2021 and 2022, and their orbits were confirmed with follow-up observations.

Jupiter's newly discovered moons have yet to be named. These newest moons range in size from 1 kilometre to 3 kilometres.

In April, the European Space Agency is sending a spacecraft to Jupiter to study the planet and some of its biggest, icy moons.

And next year, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper to explore Jupiter's moon of the same name.

Jupiter and Saturn are loaded with small moons, believed to be fragments of once bigger moons that collided with one another or with comets or asteroids.

It's extremely likely that there are a lot more moons around both Jupiter and Saturn that we are yet to find.

The observations were led by astronomer Scott Sheppard of Carnegie Institution for Science