Democracy Dies in Darkness

Undiscovered moons may lurk around Uranus

October 21, 2016 at 2:51 p.m. EDT
(NASA)

Uranus, surely the most frequently disrespected planet in our solar system, may host a pair of tiny hidden moons.

Uranus already has 27 known moons (which, fun fact, are named for Shakespearean characters instead of the usual Greek and Roman mythological figures). But now researchers think they've found signs of “moonlet wakes” (wow, this is all sounding way more poetic than I expected of a post about Uranus) in the planet's outer rings. These wavy relics could point to a pair of tiny, previously undiscovered moons orbiting close to the gas giant.