New Moons of Uranus and Neptune: A Triple Discovery

Scientists have discovered three new moons around the ice giants of our solar system, Uranus and Neptune, using ground-based telescopes. The new moons are the faintest and smallest ever found around these planets.The discovery brings the total number of known moons around Uranus to 28 and around Neptune to 16.

The International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Minor Planet Center announced the discovery of three new moons in our solar system on February 23, 2024. Uranus has one additional moon, while Neptune has picked up two. The discovery was made by a team of astronomers led by Scott S. Sheppard from Carnegie Institute of Science, using large telescopes in Hawaii and Chile.

“The three newly discovered moons are the faintest ever found around these two ice giant planets using ground-based telescopes,” said Sheppard in a press release. “It took special image processing to reveal such faint objects.”

Uranus’ New Moon

Sheppard first noticed the tiny new Uranian satellite in November of last year using the twin Magellan Telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. After follow-up observations a month later, he worked with researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to determine its possible orbit. This also allowed Sheppard to find the moon in some of his previous observations to confirm the orbit.

At only 5 miles (8 kilometers) in diameter, the new moon is likely the smallest of the planet’s 26 known moons. It has a 680-day orbit that is similar to those of moons Caliban and Stephano. Provisionally designated S/2023 U1, the moon will eventually receive a more permanent name taken from a Shakespeare character, in keeping with the naming convention of outer Uranian moons. Sheppard hopes it will be Violenta from All’s Well That Ends Well, after his daughter, Violet.

Neptune’s New Moons

Neptune’s pair of new moons brings the planet’s total count up to 16. The larger of the two, provisionally known as S/2002 N5, was found to be 14 miles (23 km) in diameter with a nine-year orbit. The other, S/2021 N1, is the faintest moon ever discovered by ground telescopes with a size of only 9 miles (14 km) and a vast orbit of nearly 27 years.

The two Neptunian moons were discovered using the Subaru Telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii. They were first spotted in December 2023 and January 2024, respectively, and confirmed by follow-up observations in February 2024. Both moons will be named after sea gods and nymphs in Greek mythology, according to the IAU rules.

Implications

The discovery of these new moons expands our knowledge of the solar system and its formation history. The faintness and smallness of these moons suggest that they are remnants of larger bodies that were shattered by collisions with other objects in the past. Studying their orbits and properties could reveal more clues about how the ice giants and their satellites evolved over time.

“These discoveries show that there are still many unknown objects in our solar system waiting to be found,” said Sheppard. “We need to continue exploring these distant worlds to understand their origin and fate.”

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