Context :

• Recently the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center confirmed 20 new moons orbiting Saturn, making it the planet with the most moons in our Solar System, at 82.

Current Status of Moons of different Planets

• The 20 had been discovered by Scott S Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science. Until their confirmation, the planet with the most moons was Jupiter, at 79.
• A count of the moons listed on the NASA website shows that our Solar System’s planets together have 205 confirmed moons now. Saturn and Jupiter, with 161 between them, account for nearly 80% of these.
• Another 20% are orbiting Uranus (27) and Neptune (14). Of the remaining three moons, one is Earth’s own while the other two are with Mars.
• Mercury is so close to the Sun and its gravity that it wouldn’t be able to hold on to its own moon. Any moon would most likely crash into Mercury or maybe go into orbit around the Sun and eventually get pulled into it.
• It is not yet clear, however, why Venus does not have a moon.

Source: TH