The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new, 29th moon orbiting Uranus. It has been named S/2025 U. NASA officially announced this on August 19, 2025.
Scientific research using the telescope was conducted by a team of scientists led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). They discovered a previously unknown object that was not part of the known Uranian moons. Currently, the number of known Uranus moons has reached 29.
Studies indicate that the new moon was detected during observations on February 2, 2025. Its diameter is estimated to be around 10 km, which is relatively small. For this reason, the Voyager-2 probe, which flew past Uranus in 1986, did not detect it.
According to SwRI principal investigator Mariame El Moutamid, the new moon is located approximately 56,000 kilometers from the center of Uranus. It moves in the planet’s equatorial plane between the orbits of the moons Ophelia and Bianca. Its nearly circular orbit suggests it formed close to its current location.
Uranus’s first two moons – Titania and Oberon – were discovered in 1787 by the famous English astronomer William Herschel. In recent years, new moons around Uranus have continued to be discovered: for example, the 28th moon S/2023 U1 was identified in November 2023 at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
This new discovery expands our knowledge of Uranus’s moon system and planetary system, providing astronomers with valuable scientific information. Scientists continue observations to determine the new moon’s orbit and its specific characteristics.
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