A New Moon Discovered Orbiting Uranus Is So Small, You Could Walk It In Two Hours

Roll retired nan cosmic invited mat for our star system’s newest resident: a never-before-seen satellite orbiting Uranus.

A squad of astronomers announced Tuesday that a caller outer measuring astir 90 shot fields across was discovered astir nan seventh satellite from nan sun. The moon, which was first seen by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope connected Feb. 2, joins a engaged vicinity of 28 different known moons astir Uranus.

The Webb telescope’s observations of Uranus are giving scientists amended penetration into 1 of nan much mysterious planets successful our star system.

“No different satellite has arsenic galore mini soul moons arsenic Uranus,” Matthew Tiscareno, a personnel of nan investigation squad and a elder investigation intelligence astatine nan SETI Institute successful California, said successful a statement.

Tiscareno said nan “complex inter-relationships” betwixt Uranus’ moons and its faint rings propose nan planet’s evolutionary history whitethorn person been a chaotic one.

“Moreover, nan caller satellite is smaller and overmuch fainter than nan smallest of nan antecedently known soul moons, making it apt that moreover much complexity remains to beryllium discovered,” he said successful nan statement.

The newfound outer is astir 35,000 miles from nan halfway of nan planet, pinch a adjacent information orbit, according to nan researchers.

It’s only astir 6 miles crossed — a region that tin beryllium walked successful astir 2 hours astatine a brisk gait — but follow-up observations are needed to corroborate nan moon’s size and different characteristics.

The find has besides not yet been peer-reviewed.

Uranus has 5 large, outer moons named Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon. The recently discovered satellite is wrong nan orbits of nan 5 larger moons, nan researchers said.

All of Uranus’ moons are named aft characters from nan useful of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope, according to NASA. The caller satellite does not yet person a name, though immoderate nickname will yet request to beryllium approved by nan International Astronomical Union, which oversees nan charismatic naming process for astronomical objects.

“It’s a mini satellite but a important discovery, which is thing that moreover NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft didn’t spot during its flyby astir 40 years ago,” Maryame El Moutamid, a lead intelligence successful nan Southwest Research Institute’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division, said successful a statement.

In 1986, nan Voyager 2 probe became nan first human-made entity to alert past Uranus, giving humanity its first close-up views of nan distant planet. The historical brushwood yielded much than 7,000 photographs of Uranus and helped scientists observe 2 caller rings and 11 caller moons astir nan planet.

The newest moon’s mini size apt made it excessively mini for Voyager 2’s cameras to see, but nan Webb telescope’s high-resolution instruments whitethorn shed much ray connected nan satellite and its system.

“Looking forward, nan find of this satellite underscores really modern astronomy continues to build upon nan bequest of missions for illustration Voyager 2,” El Moutamid said successful nan statement. “Now, astir 4 decades later, nan James Webb Space Telescope is pushing that frontier moreover farther.”