All three satellites have wide, eccentric and inclined orbits, making them difficult to detect.
Astronomers from the Carnegie Institution for Science have discovered three unknown satellites in the sky around Uranus and Neptune. This was done using ground-based telescopes. One satellite orbits Uranus, and two orbit Neptune. This was reported by Science Alert.
Thus, the official number of satellites of Uranus increased to 28, and Neptune – to 16.
It is noted that the satellites have not yet received official names, but, according to naming traditions, the new satellite of Uranus will receive a name from the works of Shakespeare, and the new satellites of Neptune is named after the sea goddesses Nereids from Greek Mythology.
“The three newly discovered satellites are the faintest ever found around the two icy giant planets using ground-based telescopes. Special image processing is required to detect the faint objects,” explained astronomer Scott Sheppard.
“The new moon of Uranus, first detected in observations using the Magellan telescopes in November 2023, has been confirmed by its discovery in data obtained in 2021. It has been provisionally named S/2023 U1, making it the first new moon of Uranus which was discovered in “For more than 20 years. Its size is about 8 kilometers in diameter, making it the smallest of Uranus’ moons and one of the smallest known moons in the solar system. Its orbital period is 680 days,” the scientists added. .
Tentatively named S/2002 N5, Neptune’s moon was first spotted during Magellan observations in September 2021 and again in October, with subsequent observations in 2022 and 2023, they said.
“Its size is 23 kilometers (14.3 miles) across and its orbital period is 9 years. The smaller of Neptune’s moons was spotted in 2021 with the Subaru telescope. It is tentatively named S/2021 N1 and measuring 14 kilometers in diameter, and the The orbital period around Neptune is 27 years,” the researchers said.
We remind you that early astronomers took incredible pictures of Saturn.
Source: korrespondent
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