Astronomers discovered new small moons around the planets Uranus and Neptune – Dainik Savera Times

Washington: Astronomers have discovered three moons in our solar system that were previously unknown. Of these, 2 moons are revolving around Neptune and one moon is revolving around Uranus. These distant tiny moons were spotted using powerful ground-based telescopes in Hawaii and Chile, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center announced on Friday.

With this, the known number of moons revolving around Neptune has become 16 and the known number of moons revolving around Uranus has become 28. Astronomer Scott Shepard of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution for Science, who helped in this discovery, said that one of the new moons of Neptune has the longest known orbital journey so far.

He told that the small Ba’ moon takes about 27 years to complete one revolution around Neptune, the giant icy planet located farthest from the Sun. He said that the new moon orbiting Uranus is probably the smallest among the planet’s moons and its estimated diameter is only 5 miles (8 km). He said, we think that there may be many more such small moons, which are yet to be discovered.