Newly Discovered Uranus Moon Is Remarkably Small

Astronomers have spotted a tiny new moon orbiting Uranus—so small you could walk around it in roughly two hours, reports NBC News. Spotted by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in February, the new satellite is only about six miles wide, which might explain why it was not previously spotted by Voyager 2 and other telescopes, according to NASA.

"No other planet has as many small inner moons as Uranus, and their complex inter-relationships with the rings hint at a chaotic history that blurs the boundary between a ring system and a system of moons," says Matthew Tiscareno of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. "Moreover, the new moon is smaller and much fainter than the smallest of the previously known inner moons, making it likely that even more complexity remains to be discovered."

Orbiting about 35,000 miles from Uranus's center, the new moon follows a near-circular path within the orbits of the planet's five larger moons—Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. It does not yet have a name, a process that requires approval from the International Astronomical Union. Researchers note that additional observations are needed to confirm the moon's exact size and other characteristics.