NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a tiny new moon orbiting Uranus, expanding the planet’s total known moons to 29. The newly found moon, provisionally named S/2025 U1, is about 10 kilometers wide and is the smallest inner moon yet discovered around Uranus.
The discovery was made possible by the telescope’s sensitive camera, which can see more than Voyager 2 could during its 1986 flyby of the planet. The new moon was detected orbiting Uranus’ equatorial plane at a distance of about 35,000 miles from the planet’s center. Its nearly circular orbit suggests it may have formed near its current location.
Matthew M. Hedman, a researcher who worked on the Webb observations, explained that Voyager 2’s exposure times were not long enough to detect the faint signals from the small moon. The new moon was also too small and distant for Voyager 2 to notice during its flyby.
The discovery is significant because it reveals more about the complex interactions among Uranus’ small moons. “The larger number of small moons orbiting outside the rings in a relatively small region gives rise to complex interactions among the moons,” said Hedman.
This is not an isolated discovery, as there could be more hidden moons around Uranus waiting to be found. The team hopes that additional observations from JWST will help unlock what this moon may have to tell us about its history and surroundings in the Uranus system.
Source: https://screenrant.com/nasa-webb-telescope-discovers-new-uranus-moon