Current:Home > InvestScientists find new moons around Neptune and Uranus-InfoLens
Scientists find new moons around Neptune and Uranus
View Date:2024-12-23 14:52:47
Astronomers announced that they have discovered new moons around Neptune and Uranus.
The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center published its findings Friday, showing the first new moon discovered around Uranus in over 20 years and two new moons around Neptune.
“The three newly discovered moons are the faintest ever found around these two ice giant planets using ground-based telescopes,” Scott S. Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington who helped discover the moons, said in a press release. “It took special image processing to reveal such faint objects.”
The newly discovered moon around Uranus is the 28th known moon around that planet, and the moons found around Neptune bring the known total to 16.
How were the moons around Neptune and Uranus found?
Sheppard observed the new moons using telescopes in Hawaii and Chile.
While the moons move at a glacial pace compared to Earth's moon — the smaller of the Neptune moons takes 27 years to complete a trip around its planet — limited opportunities to separate them from the star-scape required astronomers to take "dozens" of long exposure photographs over multiple nights, according to the Carnegie Science press release.
"Because the moons move in just a few minutes relative to the background stars and galaxies, single long exposures are not ideal for capturing deep images of moving objects,” Sheppard said. “By layering these multiple exposures together, stars and galaxies appear with trails behind them, and objects in motion similar to the host planet will be seen as point sources, bringing the moons out from behind the background noise in the images."
Scientists believe that smaller moon fragments around the planet may still be undiscovered, according to the press release.
veryGood! (4515)
Related
- Military veteran gets time served for making ricin out of ‘curiosity’
- Regina Hill: What to know about the suspended Orlando city commissioner facing 7 felonies
- The Best White Sneakers That Go With Everything (And That Are Anything But Basic)
- Sarah Paulson Shares Her Take on the Nepo Baby Debate
- The Daily Money: Mattel's 'Wicked' mistake
- Police shoot Indiana man they say fired at officers
- K-9 killed protecting officer and inmate who was attacked by prisoners, Virginia officials say
- Sisters mystified by slaying of their octogenarian parents inside Florida home
- The Surreal Life’s Kim Zolciak Fuels Dating Rumors With Costar Chet Hanks After Kroy Biermann Split
- US Sen. Rick Scott spends multiple millions on ads focused on Florida’s Hispanic voters
Ranking
- Florida Man Arrested for Cold Case Double Murder Almost 50 Years Later
- A bullet train to Sin City? What to know about Brightline West project between LA and Vegas
- Powerball lottery jackpot rockets to $1.09 billion: When is the next drawing?
- Expecting a lawsuit, North Dakota lawmakers estimate $1 million to defend congressional age limit
- Tropical Storm Sara threatens to bring flash floods and mudslides to Central America
- Nancy Silverton Says This $18 Kitchen Item Changed Her Life
- Two brothers plead guilty to insider trading charges related to taking Trump Media public
- Jack Smith argues not a single Trump official has claimed he declared any records personal
Recommendation
-
NBPA reaches Kyle Singler’s family after cryptic Instagram video draws concern
-
In new movie 'Monkey Man,' Dev Patel got physical. He has the broken bones to prove it.
-
'9-1-1' stars Angela Bassett, Jennifer Love Hewitt can't believe the 'crazy' 100th episode
-
Did Texas 'go too far' with SB4 border bill? Appeals court weighs case; injunction holds.
-
American Idol’s Triston Harper, 16, Expecting a Baby With Wife Paris Reed
-
TikTok Duck Munchkin, Known for Drinking Iced Water in Viral Videos, Dies After Vet Visit
-
California schools forced to compete with fast food industry for workers after minimum wage hike
-
2024 NFL mock draft: Who will Bills land to replace Stefon Diggs at WR after trade?