Tiny New Moon Discovered Orbiting Uranus

Posted on August 20, 2025

Astronomers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope discovered a previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus. The tiny moon has a diameter of just six miles (10 kilometers). It has been designated S/2025 U1.

A team from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) made the discovery on February 2, 2025. It increases the planet's known moons to 29. The moon was identified in a series of long-exposure images taken by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). The moon is located about 35,000 miles from the center of Uranus and has a nearly circular orbit.

Maryame El Moutamid, a lead scientist at SwRI, says in the announcement, "It's a small moon but a significant discovery, which is something that even NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft didn't see during its flyby nearly 40 years ago."

El Moutamid also says, "It's located about 35,000 miles (56,000 kilometers) from Uranus' center, orbiting the planet's equatorial plane between the orbits of Ophelia (which is just outside of Uranus' main ring system) and Bianca. Its nearly circular orbit suggests it may have formed near its current location."

A name for the newly found moon will need to be approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).