Uranus has a tiny new moon and it is only six miles wide

THE James Webb space telescope spotted a small moon hidden in orbit Uranus that even traveling 2 missed during his overflight in 1986.

The new satellite, only about six miles wide, becomes the 29th moon and orbits known in Uranus near the interior rings on the planet. His discovery highlights the extraordinary webb ability to discover small weak objects in the outdoor solar system, while adding a new member to the celestial family inspired by Uranus Shakespeare.

Discovery of a new Uranian moon

Scientists from the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) have used the James Webb space telescope (JWST) to identify an orbit in orbit. The discovery, made by a team led by Dr. Maryame El Moutamid, came from images captured on February 2, 2025. With this addition, Uranus is now known to have 29 moons.

“As part of the JWST guest observers’ program, we found a satellite previously unknown to the ice giant, which was temporarily designated S / 2025 U 1,” said El Moutamid, a main scientist in the Sciences and Exploration of the Swri solar system in Boulder, Colorado. “This object, by far the smallest object discovered to date, has been detected in a series of 10 long exhibitions obtained by the almost infrared camera.”

The unique nature of the lateral planet

Uranus, the seventh planet of the sun, is in the distant scope of the solar system. Often called “the lateral planet” because of its unusual inclination, Uranus is a cyan -colored ice giant with an atmosphere rich in hydrogen, helium and methane. Researchers think that its largest moons are made up of almost equal quantities of water ice and silicate rocks.

“Assuming that the new moon has an albedo comparable to other nearby satellites, this object probably has about six miles (10 km) in diameter,” said El Moutamid. “It is well below the detection threshold for travel cameras 2.”

Historic Volby of Voyager 2

The only spacecraft to visit Uranus is traveling 2, which made its closest approach on January 24, 1986, passing around 50,000 miles from the upper clouds on the planet. During his overflight, traveling 2 gathered thousands of images that revealed the Uranus ring system and discovered several small moons, including 10 which then received official names.

The 28 moons of Uranus include five major moons – Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel and Miranda – Discoveries between 1787 and 1948. Known as “The Literary Moons”, Uranus satellites are appointed for the characters of Shakespeare and the works of Alexander Pope.

Orbit and neighboring moons

The new moon is on the edge of the interior rings of Uranus. It is located around 35,000 miles (56,250 km) from its center in the equatorial plane of the planet, between the Ophelia and Bianca orbits. Ophelia has a diameter of approximately 13 miles (43 km), while Bianca is an object elongated around 40 by 29 miles (64 per 46 km) of dimension.

“With so many Uranus moons named for the Shakespearian characters, our team gets a lot of culture by trying to understand how to name our new discovery,” said El Moutamid.

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