APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Uranus' Moon 18
Explanation: The discovery was there for the taking. An image of Uranus taken by Voyager 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 from NASA. Erich Karkoschka ( U. Arizona ) noticed the moon when comparing a 1986 photo to a recent one taken by the Hubble Space Telescope . The newly identified moon is hard to see but marked in the above photograph . Also visible are many other Uranian moons and background stars. The moon is the 18th known around Uranus , tying it with Saturn for the most around any planet.
| Date | May 31, 1999 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: Voyager 2, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |



