Astronomers Discover Hidden Moon Orbiting Uranus (sciencedaily.com) 41
alternative_right shares a report from ScienceDaily: Southwest Research Institute led a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) survey, discovering a previously unknown tiny moon orbiting Uranus. A team led by SwRI's Dr. Maryame El Moutamid discovered the small object in a series of images taken on Feb. 2, 2025, bringing Uranus' total moon count to 29. "As part of JWST's guest observer program, we found a previously unknown satellite of the ice giant, which has been provisionally designated S/2025 U 1," said El Moutamid, a lead scientist in SwRI's Solar System Science and Exploration Division in Boulder, Colorado. "This object, by far the smallest object discovered to date, was detected in a series of 10 long exposures obtained by the Near-Infrared Camera."
Located in the outer solar system, Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Known as "the sideways planet" for its extreme axial tilt, the cyan-colored ice giant has a deep atmosphere composed of hydrogen, helium and methane. Scientists think Uranus' larger moons are roughly equal parts water ice and silicate rock. "Assuming that the new moon has an albedo comparable to other nearby satellites, this object is probably around six miles (10 km) in diameter," El Moutamid said. "It is well below the detection threshold for the Voyager 2 cameras."
Located in the outer solar system, Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Known as "the sideways planet" for its extreme axial tilt, the cyan-colored ice giant has a deep atmosphere composed of hydrogen, helium and methane. Scientists think Uranus' larger moons are roughly equal parts water ice and silicate rock. "Assuming that the new moon has an albedo comparable to other nearby satellites, this object is probably around six miles (10 km) in diameter," El Moutamid said. "It is well below the detection threshold for the Voyager 2 cameras."
Too easy... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
The original headline was something like "Uranus mooned James Webb" or somesuch.
Re:Too easy... (Score:5, Interesting)
This is the one planet that doesn't have Roman, but a Greek name, and is pronounced, more properly as "Oh roo nuss". If they would just use this pronunciation it would eliminate all of these silly jokes.
Re:Too easy... (Score:4, Interesting)
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Ur-an-uhs.
I don't think Slashdot can render the necessary characters, but it's "ur" with a long 'r', and the "uh" so it doesn't sound quite like "us".
If you google "uranus pronunciation" it will speak it for you in English and American, and it definitely sounds more like "your anus" in the latter. Then again the UK has so many accents I'm not sure there is anything you could really definitively call British English.
Re: Too easy... (Score:3)
In southern England, I grew up with Yur-anus as the pronunciation.
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This was a major problem during WWI, with soldiers who couldn't understand their officer's orders because of accent clashes. They solved it by picking one rather neutral accent and teaching all of the officers to use it. This is where "received pronunciation" came from.
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We're not speaking either classical or modern Greek, so why would we use an admitted Greek mispronunciation rather than an English pronunciation? How do you pronounce "Montana", "Mexico" and "Boise" (from French "les bois")?
Re: Too easy... (Score:2)
You know Star Trek and toilet paper have in common?
â¦
They both circle Uranus searching for Klingons
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"... and wipe out Klingons" was the joke - at least back when I was a kid.
Re: Too easy... (Score:2)
I like that punch line more!
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I've had teachers that presumably didn't like the pronunciation "your anus" and instead pronounced it as "urine us" ... This is the one planet that doesn't have Roman, but a Greek name, and is pronounced, more properly as "Oh roo nuss".
More like "oo-rah-NOESS" (Ouranos) [wikipedia.org].
"Most linguists trace the etymology of the name [Ouranos] to a Proto-Greek form *Worsanos, enlarged from *uorso- (also found in Greek [oureo] 'to urinate') ...."
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Doesn't matter. It's going to be renamed to Urectum in 2620 anywas.
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It might be orbiting uranus (Score:1)
Please don't name it Dingleberry (Score:3, Funny)
Anything else will do.
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Dingleberry McDingleberryFace
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pIraQSIS?
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Goddammit!! Why you gotta piss all over my parade and steal my comment before I could type it?!?!
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You must be new here.
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Klingon.
That's no moon... (Score:4, Funny)
It wasn't hidden, it's recently arrived.
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I personally don't think such small lumpy rocks should be classed as moons anyway. If they don't have something close to the mass required for hydrostatic equilibrium then I'd call them asteroids.
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If they don't have something close to the mass required for hydrostatic equilibrium then I'd call them asteroids.
Asteroids don't orbit planets
They typically orbit stars... unless they've gone rogue, taken to dressing in a threatening manner and carrying a switchblade.
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It wasn't hidden, it's recently arrived.
It's a six mile chunk of rock. Should this really be classified as a Moon? It's basically an asteroid in temporary orbit.
What's next for James Webb? (Score:2, Redundant)
Maybe next time it will capture footage of a mass ejection coming our of Uranus.
Change Definition of Moon (Score:2)
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Re: Change Definition of Moon (Score:2)
Absolutely.
There should be rules, this isn't Nam.
For values of "hidden" ... (Score:2)
that include "wasn't bright enough to spot until a fairly high power telescope was pointed at it".
Survey of Gas Density in the Cis-Neptunar Space (Score:2)
[looks at homemade orrery representing his love of astronomy]
[looks at hand-stitched poop-emoji plushie representing his love of butthole jokes]
YOU'RE TEARING ME APART!