Moroccan Scientist Leads Discovery of a New Moon Orbiting Uranus

In a new astronomical breakthrough, Moroccan scientist Dr. Meriem El Moutamid led a research team from the Southwest Research Institute that announced the discovery of a new, previously unknown moon orbiting the planet Uranus. With this finding, the number of known moons of Uranus has now reached 29, contributing to a deeper understanding of this gas giant.

According to NASA, the moon was detected on February 2, 2025, during a telescopic observation using the agency's James Webb Space Telescope. Dr. El Moutamid, a prominent Moroccan name in the field of astronomy, explained that the small moon was spotted across a series of 10 images using the Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). She emphasized the significance of this discovery, especially since the Voyager 2 spacecraft was unable to detect it during its flyby of Uranus about 40 years ago.

The new moon's diameter is estimated to be only about 10 kilometers, making it smaller and dimmer than any previously known inner moon. This explains why it was not seen by earlier telescopes or the Voyager probe. Dr. El Moutamid added that the James Webb Space Telescope, with its exceptional infrared sensitivity and high precision, possesses an unprecedented ability to discover faint and distant celestial bodies that were previously beyond the scope of observation.

Matthew Tiscareno, a member of the research team at the SETI Institute, noted that Uranus has the largest number of small inner moons compared to other planets and that the complex relationship between these moons and the planet's rings suggests a chaotic history for its system. The newly discovered moon is the 14th member of the small moon group. It is located approximately 56,000 kilometers from the center of Uranus, situated between the orbits of the moons Ophelia and Bianca.