Moons over Jupiter -- the 'Gas Giant' moves past Saturn into first place

There's a new leader in the clubhouse: Jupiter, with 92 moons.

The Gas Giant (a real nickname!) took the solar system lead last year, when an additional 12 moons were added to its list. That moved Jupiter past Saturn for the all-important spot as the solar system's most-rotated planet.

We haven't seen this heavy a rotation since all the songs from "Saturday Night Fever" were popular at the same time!

Saturn still has 83 moons, consigned to the runner-up spot in the moon race behind Jupiter's 92.

The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center added the moons to its list. (By the way, the International Astronomical Union is one of America's strongest unions. Their strike in 1948 resulted in Pluto being added to the solar system, a move that was disallowed only when Ronald Reagan was elected president and a backlash against unions led to the deregulation of planetary designation. Pluto, lacking an effective lobbying group, lost out.) The "new" moons were discovered in 2021 and 2022 by telescopes in Chile and Hawaii and range in size from a little over a half-mile to 2 miles wide.

Astronomers say it's possible that the more distant planets (Uranus and Neptune) could have more moons that we've seen, but it's hard to tell because of the distance. Astronomers also say Uranus is the best planet name, then burst out laughing like 13-year-old boys in a science class.

Mercury and Venus, closer to the sun than us, have no moons. Mars has two and of course, Earth has one.

That ties Earth on the list of items with the most moons with the Who (drummer Keith Moon), the Houston Oilers of 1984-1993 (Warren Moon), the Los Angeles Dodgers of 1959-1965 (Wally Moon) and the San Francisco Giants of 1975-1987 (Greg "Moon Man" Minton).

That's not bad. I mean you could do worse than to tie with the Who and with the Giants (although Minton's era was probably the darkest era in team history).

For Jupiter, this is a major milestone. Until now, Jupiter was mostly known as the biggest planet in the solar system (kind of like being the largest member of the Jackson 5 or the heaviest man ever to be president) and for being in the opening lyrics to "Ages of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," by the Fifth Dimension. ("When the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars . . ." which is apparently gibberish. According to my source (Wikipedia), the moon is in the seventh house twice every day and Jupiter aligns with Mars twice a year. So it's not that unusual. However, we all agree that we should let the sunshine in.)

But back to the basic point. Jupiter is now No. 1 in our solar system for moons, leading all other planets, a famous rock band and at least three sports franchises. Saturn is now second and must be content with being the only planet that is also a car model I drove. And Uranus is still the dream planet name for all 13-year-old boys and well . . . me, too.

Congratulations, Jupiter.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.