Astronomers announce discovering ten tiny Jovian satellites

On Tuesday, astronomers of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, DC, United States, announced the discovery of ten small satellites orbiting Jupiter. With this discovery, Jupiter now has 79 known satellites.

The team led by Scott Sheppard had discovered twelve of the 79 Jovian satellites, including Tuesday's ten, mostly using a Blanco 4-meter telescope of Chile's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The observatory is operated by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in the US. The tiny satellites, none more than five kilometres in  diameter, were first observed in 2017. Orbits of these new Jovian  satellites were calculated by International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center's Gareth Williams.  Williams explained, "It takes several observations to confirm an object  actually orbits around Jupiter [...] So, the whole process took a  year."