New Moon Discovered by James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope has identified a new moon of the planet Uranus, bringing the number of known moons of the icy giant to 29. The object, provisionally named S/2025 U1, is just 10 kilometers across and is the fourth moon discovered from a distance around this planet. Confirmation of the name is yet to be validated by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

• Smaller than Voyager 2 could see

According to expert Maryame El Moutamid, from the Southwest Research Institute (USA), the discovery is remarkable, especially because "not even Voyager 2, on its historic flight almost 40 years ago, could observe it." With such a small diameter, the moon would have been virtually invisible to previous missions or ground-based telescopes.

• A complex and chaotic system

NASA has stated that no other planet in the solar system has as many small moons as Uranus. Beyond the impressive number, these bodies interact with the planet's rings in a way that suggests a "chaotic history," as Matthew Tiscareno of the Seti Institute says. According to him, Uranus is on the border between a classic ring system and a satellite system, which makes its study particularly interesting for astronomers.

• Characteristics of the new moon

The new moon is about 56,000 km from the center of Uranus and follows a nearly circular orbit, which indicates that it could have formed right in the current area. It is the fourteenth and smallest of the inner moons, a group that includes well-known satellites such as Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon, named after characters in the literature of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

• From Voyager to James Webb: An Expanding Frontier

The discovery continues the legacy left by Voyager 2, which on January 24, 1986, flew by Uranus, providing the first detailed images of the mysterious planet. Nearly four decades later, the James Webb Space Telescope is opening a new chapter in the exploration of the outer solar system, providing crucial information about the icy world and its enigmatic moons.