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Uranus – New Moon (Annotated)

An image titled “James Webb Space Telescope, Uranus, Discovery of Moon S 2025 U1”. At center is the planet Uranus, a blue globe with a large white spot occupying most of the planet. It’s surrounded by a series of rings that get brighter as you move outward. Beyond the rings are 14 labeled moons appearing as points of light. Just beyond the outermost ring at 10 o’clock, a faint moon is circled and labeled S 2025 U1. At far left, the brightest moon is labeled Miranda. Additional moons clockwise from Miranda are Puck, Cressida, Mab, Perdita, Desdemona, Belinda, Bianca, Ophelia, Rosalind, Portia, Cupid, and Juliet. At lower right are compass arrows with east pointing to 11 o’clock and north pointing to 2 o’clock. At bottom, a label reads NIRCam F150W2.

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope discovered a new moon orbiting Uranus in images taken by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). This image shows the moon, designated S/2025 U1, as well as 13 of the 28 other known moons orbiting the planet. (The small moon Cordelia orbits just inside the outermost ring, but is not visible in these views due to glare from the rings.) Due to the drastic differences in brightness levels, the image is a composite of three different treatments of the data, allowing the viewer to see details in the planetary atmosphere, the surrounding rings, and the orbiting moons. The data was taken with NIRCam’s wide band F150W2 filter that transmits infrared wavelengths from about 1.0 to 2.4 microns.

About the Object

  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    At the time of the observations on February 2, 2025, Uranus was located at a distance of about 19.8 AU from Earth (1.8 billion miles or 2.9 billion km)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 6379 (M. El Moutamid). Image processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    February 2, 2025
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F150W2
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Uranus
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Gas giant planet
  • Release Date
    August 19, 2025
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, Maryame El Moutamid (SwRI), Matthew Hedman (University of Idaho); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Downloads

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  • Full Res (For Display), 1140 × 1140
    png (1.42 MB)
An image titled “James Webb Space Telescope, Uranus, Discovery of Moon S 2025 U1”. At center is the planet Uranus, a blue globe with a large white spot occupying most of the planet. It’s surrounded by a series of rings that get brighter as you move outward. Beyond the rings are 14 labeled moons appearing as points of light. Just beyond the outermost ring at 10 o’clock, a faint moon is circled and labeled S 2025 U1. At far left, the brightest moon is labeled Miranda. Additional moons clockwise from Miranda are Puck, Cressida, Mab, Perdita, Desdemona, Belinda, Bianca, Ophelia, Rosalind, Portia, Cupid, and Juliet. At lower right are compass arrows with east pointing to 11 o’clock and north pointing to 2 o’clock. At bottom, a label reads NIRCam F150W2.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

This image is acquired by the NIRCam instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope. The color results from assigning a blue color map to a monochromatic (grayscale) image.

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Details

Last Updated
Dec 11, 2025
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

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