Scientists find a new month in Uranus orbit
A team of Astronomers have found what seems to be a previous month has not been discovered in Uranus orbit. If approved, the finding means that the giant green-green planet will have 29 lunar. The discovery was made using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and expanded the list of tool achievements and increased expectations that other new discoveries could be made in the solar system.
Researchers, with the JWST infrared camera, were exposed to ten -minute view of Uranus and identified a small, fuzzy dot with other giant moons. Researchers estimate that the body is about 10 kilometers in diameter, located 56,000 kilometers from the center of the planet.
This new satellite is part of the Uranus group of 13 domestic moon, which is characterized by irregular forms and low lighting. This circuit extends exactly beyond the outer edge of the main planet’s main ring, along with other adjacent moons such as Mab, Cordilia and Ophlia in the orbit.
Currently, the object has a S/2025 U1 code name. The team intends to make more observations to confirm its status as a natural satellite. If its status is approved as the month, then the official name is given to it. Traditionally, Uranus moons have been named as the characters of William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope – such as Francisco, Stefano, Miranda, Trinculo, Ariel and more. Any new name for it or any newly discovered satellite must be approved by the International Union of Astronomy.
William Herschel discovered the first two months of Uranus in 1787 – Titania and Obron – or six years after identifying the planet. Dozens of others have been found since then. The last time the observatory recognized a formal satellite was in 2003, when Margaret was found using the Hubble Telescope. Along with the S/2025 U1, another unknown month is waiting for confirmation, the S/2023 U1 was discovered two years ago. Overall, the scientific community has identified 29 months (including these two waiting confirmations).
The discovery of the S/2025 U1 is a new step in viewing the solar system. Neither the Hubble Telescope nor the Voyager 2 probe who flew by Uranus in 1986 was able to find this month. The fact that JWST was able to discover shows that there is still more complexity in the Uranus ring system, and thanks to this new tool, more discoveries can be followed.
“Looking forward, this month’s discovery emphasizes how modern astronomy continues to the heritage of missions such as Voyager 2, which passed Uranus on January 24, 1986, giving its first glance to this mysterious world.” “Now, almost four decades later, the James Webb Space Telescope is pressing even farther that border.”
This story appeared first Wired en español And translated from Spanish.
