Question

According to the data available by Dec-2012 the maximum number of known moons that are possessed by a planet:

A. Jupiter
B. Saturn
C. both (a) and (b)
D. Saturn only

Answer 1

Hint: At first we have to look over the facts that space organizations provide us. There are many space organizations that are conducting research in this context like ISRO NASA and there are many more. Now we will have to compare all the data to reach a conclusive statement for the answer.

Complete step-by-step answer:
We know that a moon is actually considered as a satellite of a planet.
Now, according to surveys done by NASA solar system exploration group,
Mercury and Venus have no moons of their own.
We know that the earth obviously has one moon of its own.
Mars has two moons.
Now, coming to the maximum number of moons list.
Neptune has fourteen.
Uranus has twenty seven.
Saturn has a total of sixty two moons out of which 53 are confirmed to be there and there are 9 provisional moons.
The maximum number of moons are there in Jupiter with a whooping count of seventy nine moons, out of which 53 are confirmed and 26 are provisional.
But recently in 2019 a team has discovered a haul of twenty new moons in Saturn which means it has overtaken Jupiter and brought its total to 82 moons.
So, we can say that Jupiter had the highest number of moons till December 2012 and Saturn overtook it in 2019.
So option A, that is Jupiter is the correct option.

Note: The moon is actually a natural satellite of a planet. Satellites are nothing but objects that revolve in a fixed orbit around a planet which is larger than the satellite, hence we can call the moon a satellite.