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Uranus may have two undiscovered moons, astronomers say

Published

8 years ago

October 24, 2016

Uranus may have two undiscovered moons, astronomers say

New research suggests that there could be two previously undiscovered moonlets orbiting near Uranus’ rings.

Rob Chancia, a University of Idaho doctoral student, spotted key patterns in the rings while examining decades-old images of Uranus’ icy rings taken by Voyager 2 in 1986.

He noticed the amount of ring material on the edge of the alpha ring — one of the brightest of Uranus’ multiple rings — varied periodically. A similar, even more promising pattern occurred in the same part of the neighboring beta ring.

“When you look at this pattern in different places around the ring, the wavelength is different — that points to something changing as you go around the ring. There’s something breaking the symmetry,” said Matt Hedman, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Idaho, who worked with Chancia to investigate the finding.

Their results will be published in The Astronomical Journal.

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