Uranus, Rings and Satellites Target Name:   Uranus Spacecraft:   Hubble Space Telescope Produced by:   NASA, M. Showalter (Stanford University/NASA Ames Research Center), J. Lissauer (NASA Ames Research Center) Copyright:  Copyright Free Date Released:  9/23/2003

• Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus
• Full Resolution Hubble Image of S/2003 U 1
• Full Resolution Hubble Image of S/1986 U 10
• Uranus Color Composite: Full-Size Image
• Uranus

Astronomers have discovered two of the smallest moons yet found around Uranus. The new moons, uncovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, are about 8 to 10 miles across (12 to 16 km) - about the size of San Francisco. The two moons are so faint they eluded detection by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which discovered 10 small satellites when it flew by the gas giant planet in 1986. The newly detected moons are orbiting even closer to the planet than the five major Uranian satellites, which are several hundred miles wide. The two new satellites are the first inner moons of Uranus discovered from an Earth-based telescope in more than 50 years. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) will announce the finding today. The Hubble telescope observations also helped astronomers confirm the discovery of another tiny moon that had originally been spotted in Voyager pictures.