Thanks to ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered three previously unknown moons in space around Uranus and Neptune: one orbiting Uranus and two orbiting Neptune. Thus, the official number of moons of Uranus is 28, and Neptune – 16.
The moons have yet to be officially named, but in keeping with the naming tradition of both planets, Uranus’ new moon will be named after Shakespeare, and Neptune’s moons will be named after the Nereids sea goddesses from Greek mythology.
“The three newly discovered moons are the faintest ever found around these two ice giant planets by ground-based telescopes. Special image processing was required to detect such faint objects,” says astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
In recent years, Jupiter and Saturn have dominated the race to find new moons, while Neptune and Uranus have been left out. The two outer icy planets are far from Earth, making it difficult for spacecraft to reach them. They are also difficult to see with telescopes—their understanding is more limited than the other five worlds closer to Earth.
The new moon of Uranus, first observed during observations with one of the Magellan telescopes in November 2023, has been confirmed by the finding of data dated 2021. It has been provisionally named S/2023 U1 and is the first new moon of Uranus discovered in more than 20 years. Its diameter is about 8 km, making it the smallest of Uranus’ moons and one of the smallest known moons in the Solar System. Its orbital period is 680 days.
The brighter of Neptune’s two moons, tentatively designated S/2002 N5, was first spotted during Magellan observations in September 2021 and then again in October, with follow-up observations in 2022 and 2023. Its diameter is 23 km, and the orbital period is 9 years.
The smallest of Neptune’s new moons was spotted in 2021 by the Subaru Telescope. Temporarily named S/2021 N1, it measures 14 km in diameter with a 27-year orbital period around the planet.
Recently discovered moons suggest that Uranus and Neptune have families of outer moons in configurations similar to Saturn (146 known moons) and Jupiter (95 known moons). This indicates the similarity of the formation of these satellites with families of larger planets.
New celestial bodies are included in groups of satellites that have similar orbits. S/2023 U1 walks alongside Caliban and Stefano. S/2002 N5 is correlated with the orbits of Sao and Laomedea, and the orbit of S/2021 N1 is similar to the orbits of Psammate and Neso.
None of the orbits are exactly the same, but the similarities suggest that each of these groups of moons may once have been a single object captured by planetary gravity before breaking apart. If this is the case, each group may contain much smaller satellites that are difficult to find. This discovery is another good reason to send probes to the outer part of the solar system.
“Uranus has never looked so good.” The James Webb telescope showing the ring system of the ice giant in detail.
Source: Science Alert
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