S/2025 U1-NASA Discovers 29th Moon of Uranus

Why in the News?

• NASA (Feb 2025) announced that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has discovered a new satellite of Uranus, designated S/2025 U1.
• With this discovery, Uranus now has 29 known moons.

About the Discovery

• Name: S/2025 U1
• Discovered by: A team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).
• Size: Approx. 10 km in diameter (a small irregular moon).
• Orbit: About 56,000 km from Uranus.
• Significance: Even though small, it expands our understanding of Uranus’s satellite system and solar system formation.

About Uranus’s Moons

• Before this discovery, Uranus was known to have 28 moons.
• The largest moons: Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel, Miranda (all named after characters from Shakespeare & Alexander Pope).
• Uranus’s moons are diverse: some are icy, some rocky, with potential subsurface oceans in larger moons.