The discovery was there for the taking. An image of Uranus [ http://www.seds.org…] taken by Voyager [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…] 2 as it passed the giant planet 13 years ago apparently recorded a moon that had since gone unnoticed. The image on which Uranus' 18th moon was discovered was freely available [ http://www-pdsimage…] from NASA. Erich Karkoschka (U. Arizona [ http://science.opi.…]) noticed the moon when comparing a 1986 photo to a recent [ http://oposite.stsc…] one taken by the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.ed…]. The newly identified moon is hard to see but marked in the above photograph [ http://science.opi.…]. Also visible are many other Uranian moons [ http://www.seds.org…] and background stars. The moon is the 18th known around Uranus [ http://www.hawastso…], tying it with Saturn [ http://www.seds.org…] for the most around any planet.
Explanation
The discovery was there for the taking. An image of Uranus [ http://www.seds.org…] taken by Voyager [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…] 2 as it passed the giant planet 13 years ago apparently recorded a moon that had since gone unnoticed. The image on which Uranus' 18th moon was discovered was freely available [ http://www-pdsimage…] from NASA. Erich Karkoschka (U. Arizona [ http://science.opi.…]) noticed the moon when comparing a 1986 photo to a recent [ http://oposite.stsc…] one taken by the Hubble Space Telescope [ http://www.stsci.ed…]. The newly identified moon is hard to see but marked in the above photograph [ http://science.opi.…]. Also visible are many other Uranian moons [ http://www.seds.org…] and background stars. The moon is the 18th known around Uranus [ http://www.hawastso…], tying it with Saturn [ http://www.seds.org…] for the most around any planet.
