James Webb found a new moon of Uranus
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new 29th moon orbiting Uranus. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
This moon has been named S/2025 U. NASA officially announced this information on August 19, 2025.
The scientific research was conducted by a team of scientists led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). They discovered a previously unknown object that does not belong to the known family of Uranus's moons.
Thus, the known number of Uranus's moons has reached 29. The new moon was identified based on observations carried out on February 2, 2025.
Its diameter is approximately 10 kilometers, which is relatively small. Therefore, the Voyager-2 probe, which flew by Uranus in 1986, was unable to detect it.
According to SwRI chief specialist Mariame El Mutamid, the new moon is located about 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.
The nearly circular orbit of the moon indicates that it formed near 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 found in November 2023 at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
This new discovery expands our knowledge of Uranus's moon family and planetary system, providing valuable scientific data for astronomers. Scientists continue observations to determine the new moon's orbit and unique characteristics.
