NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a tiny new moon orbiting icy planet Uranus, bringing the total number of known Uranian moons to 29. The moon, S/2025 U1, is approximately 6 miles (10 kilometers) in diameter and orbits at 35,000 miles (56,000 km) from Uranus’ center.
The discovery was made possible by the telescope’s powerful Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), which allowed scientists to detect the small moon after it remained invisible to NASA’s Voyager 2 probe during its 1986 flyby of Uranus. The team used 10 different exposures of Uranus to find S/2025 U1, which is located alongside other small satellites that orbit inside the ring system.
The discovery highlights the capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope and provides new insights into Uranus’ complex system of moons and rings. “No other planet has as many small inner moons as Uranus, and their complex inter-relationships with the rings hint at a chaotic history,” said Matthew Tiscareno of the SETI Institute.
The discovery also underscores the importance of continued space exploration, as scientists say that there is still much to be learned about our distant neighbors in the outer reaches of the solar system.
Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/uranus/scientists-find-tiny-new-moon-around-uranus-with-the-james-webb-space-telescope-photos-video