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

Now, Jupiter has stolen the title from Saturn, which only has 83 documented moons.

Jupiter is a superstar in our solar system. It is the biggest wonderfully gassy planet, and it now has the most documented moons, clocking in at 92 natural satellites. 

Until 2017, Jupiter had just 67 moons on record. But in 2017 and 2018, astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science and his team identified a dozen previously unknown moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing its total to 79—just shy of Saturn’s 83.

Sheppard has taken part in 70 moon discoveries so far around Jupiter — expects to keep adding to the lunar tally of both gas giants.

 In 2021 and 2022, they found three more. Now, Sheppard and his research team have identified 10 more moons that have been recognized by the Minor Planet Center, the International Astronomical Union’s body studying minor planets. The new count became official on January 20, 2023. 

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

These newest moons range in size from 0.6 miles to 2 miles, according to Sheppard.

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.

 The same goes for Uranus and Neptune, but they're so distant that it makes moon-spotting even harder.

For the record, Uranus has 27 confirmed moons, Neptune 14, Mars two and Earth one. Venus and Mercury come up empty.

Jupiter's newly discovered moons have yet to be named. 

Sheppard said only half of them are big enough — at least 1 mile or so — to warrant a name.

"I hope we can image one of these outer moons close-up in the near future to better determine their origins," he said.

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, which could harbor an ocean beneath its frozen crust.