Saturn and Jupiter have been locked in a competition for the planet with the highest number of moons. But as it happens, Jupiter never really stood a chance: Saturn has just won by a huge margin. That’s because on Tuesday,

Saturn just solidified its title as ‘moon king’ with an updated tally of 274 satellites orbiting the gas giant. The record-breaking statistic puts Saturn way ahead of its moon-bearing competitors, as now the ringed planet is officially orbited by almost twice as many moons as all other planets in the solar system combined.

The objects around the ringed planet are tiny, but some of them may have formed relatively recently in the solar system’s history.

Saturn has dozens of new moons, bringing it to a total of 274. All of the new moons are between 2 and 4 kilometres wide, but at what point is a rock too small to be a moon?

Canadian and other researchers have confirmed Saturn as the solar system’s undisputed “moon king," after discovering 128 more moons circling the ringed planet.

In 2023, astronomers discovered 62 new moons of Saturn, bringing its total to 145 moons and surpassing Jupiter. More recently, astronomers from Taiwan, Canada, the USA, and France have identified additional moons, increasing Saturn’s total to 274.

Saturn has left its former rival in the dust with a new total of 274 moons, almost twice as many as all the other planets combined.

The International Astronomical Union formally recognised all of Saturn’s moons this week. The moons are yet to get names but it is confirmed that they will be named after Gallic, Norse and Canadian Inuit gods.

Saturn leads the list of planets with the most moons since 2023. Now that a record discovery was published, it seems to be uncatchable at the top.

Scientists have discovered 128 new moons around Saturn, bringing the total number to 274. This is the largest number of such objects orbiting a planet in our Solar System. It turns out that Saturn still holds many secrets for us.