Astronomers have discovered three new moons, one orbiting Uranus and two orbiting Neptune. The picture shows Uranus and some of its known small satellites. (NASA)
[The Epoch Times, February 26, 2024](Epoch Times reporter Chen Juncun reported) Astronomers discovered three new satellites of Uranus and Neptune through ground telescopes, one of which orbits Uranus and two orbits Neptune. This is the first time in more than two decades that astronomers have observed a new moon of Uranus, and this new moon may be Uranus’s smallest satellite.
The Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., stated in a press release on February 23 that Scott S. Sheppard, a researcher at the institution, said that these three newly discovered satellites are Uranus and Neptune are currently the faintest known moons, and they appear to be such blurry objects through special imaging processing.
Uranus’s new moon, tentatively named S/2023 U1, is only 8 kilometers in diameter and may be the smallest satellite the planet has. It takes 680 days to orbit Uranus. Astronomers will follow existing naming rules and officially name it after a character in a play by British playwright William Shakespeare.
Shepard used the Magellan telescopes in Chile to observe S/2023 U1 for the first time on November 4, 2023. In subsequent observations, he collaborated with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Jet Propulsion) Laboratory, confirmed the existence of the satellite.
Uranus’s newly discovered new satellite S/2023 U1, as pointed by the arrow. (Scott Sheppard/Carnegie Institution for Science)
Shepard observed two new moons of Neptune for the first time in September 2021. The brighter one was observed with the Magellan Telescope and has been tentatively named S/2002 N5. The fainter one was observed by the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, USA. It is temporarily named S/2021 N1.
S/2002 N5 has a diameter of about 23 kilometers and its orbit around Neptune is about 9 years, while S/2021 N1 has a diameter of about 14 kilometers and its orbit around Neptune is nearly 27 years. Astronomers will officially name the two new satellites after 50 sea goddesses in Greek mythology.
All three of these moons have distant, non-concentric and tilted orbits, meaning they were captured by the gravity of Uranus and Neptune during the early years of the solar system’s formation. All the giant planets in the solar system have similar structures of outer moons, regardless of the size of those planets or the process by which they were formed.
Shepard said the newly discovered moons show that Uranus and Neptune have similar numbers of moons to other giant planets orbiting the sun. If the newly discovered S/2023 U1 is added, the total number of Uranus satellites will reach 28.
A better understanding of how the outer moons of these planets are captured could help astronomers elucidate new details about the early days of the solar system and how the outer solar system’s planets moved.
Space missions to explore Uranus and Neptune are still in the planning stages and may in the future enhance astronomers’ knowledge and allow them to take a look at these newly discovered moons.
Editor in charge: Sun Yun#
