James Webb Telescope discovers new moon in our solar system – Jalopnik

A team of scientists from the Southwest Research Institute, with the help of photography commissioned by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, has discovered a previously unknown moon in our solar system that is in an “almost circular” job around Uranus. Only six miles in diameter, our little neighbor is so small that no telescope has been powerful enough to notice it, not even on the Voyager 2 -space vessels that flew past Uranus 40 years ago. But a series of ten expansions of 40 minutes due to the near infrared camera of Webb finally revealed it, so we got a little more complete from a photo of our solar system.

The moon, currently called S/2025 U1, runs only 35,000 miles from the center of Uranus (before you start: no jokes, to prisoners with you), or only about 15% as far away as our moon of the earth. Just like with his colleague 28 Manes, this plans the right in the rings around the planet. “No other planet has so many small inner men as Uranus, and their complex mutual relationships with the rings point to a chaotic history that fades the boundary between a ring system and a system of mane,” said research team member Matthew Tiscareno.

How exactly the planets of our solar system have received their different rings and moons remains a matter of active research, but in many cases they are probably related. If a moon is torn apart by the gravity of his neighboring world, the scattered debris can continue to turn and become a ring. In the course of time, when that debris starts to sail together, practice gravity and withdraw more debris, it can be a moon. The new discovery of Webb offers an important new way to investigate that process.

But first the baby needs a name, because S/2025 U1 is not exactly inspiring. The other moons of Uranus are much more dramatic, with names such as Ophelia, Bianca, Juliet, even Puck. If they sound familiar, it is because they are all from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. Expect the International Astronomical Union, which calls Celestial Bodies, a trip to the theater before it settles in a name. Hopefully not smrew.

In the meantime, the Webb telescope will continue its journey on the second Lagrange point of the earth and the sun, and quietly take pictures in the deepest darkness that every telescope has ever experienced. While NASA manages the satellite itself, science teams can ask missions for it as part of the General observers program. That is exactly how little S/2025 U1 was found. You may think you know your neighbors, but it turns out that there might be more to meet.