Using ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered three previously unknown moons orbiting Uranus and Neptune.
One new moon was found orbiting Uranus, and two orbiting Neptune, bringing their respective moon counts to 28 and 16.
The moons are faint and had eccentric, inclined orbits making them difficult to detect previously.
The new Uranian moon is provisionally named S/2023 U1 and is about 8km across with a 680 day orbit.
One Neptunian moon is S/2002 N5, about 23km across with a 9 year orbit. The other is S/2021 N1, 14km across with a 27 year orbit.
Their wide orbits suggest they were captured by the planets’ gravities rather than forming with them.
The discoveries indicate Uranus and Neptune likely have similar outer moon populations to Saturn and Jupiter with more moons left to find.
Future missions could help resolve smaller moons and better understand the formation and evolution of these distant planetary systems.
Source: ScienceAlert (https://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-detect-hidden-moons-orbiting-neptune-and-uranus)
