{"id":407010,"date":"2026-05-01T17:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/407010\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T17:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:04:09","slug":"multiple-40-minute-exposures-identified-hidden-moon-that-even-nasas-voyager-2-couldnt-detect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/407010\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiple 40-minute exposures identified hidden moon that even NASA\u2019s Voyager 2 couldn\u2019t detect"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Artemis II<\/a> launch has rocketed space photography into the fore and I for one cannot get enough of it. So much so that while browsing the internet for more interstellar goodness, I happened upon an older NASA news post<\/a> from August of last year reporting on the discovery of a new moon orbiting Uranus. But what I found most interesting was how it was discovered and it has everything to do with photography.<\/p>\n

Uranus \u2014 New Moon \u2014 James Webb Space Telescope – YouTube
\n\"Uranus<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

You see, a team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) used NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope to make the discovery by capturing 10 40-minute exposures using the telescope\u2019s primary near-infrared camera, NIRCam. The video (above) shows each of the ten images, all captured during a six-hour period from February 2, 2025 between 01:05 and 06:54 UT.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to the video\u2019s description, each image is \u201ca composite of three different treatments of the data,\u201d as it wouldn\u2019t be possible to see the planetary atmosphere, rings and moons in a single treatment. The new moon, S\/2025 U1 is highlighted by a circle in each image, which is helpful as it\u2019s incredibly faint. As such, you can clearly see it orbiting a portion of the planet.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

This is a great example of just how far imaging has come. Even NASA\u2019s Voyager 2<\/a> couldn\u2019t detect this moon when it cruised past Uranus in 1986. To date, it\u2019s the only space craft to have ever explored the ice giant. If you\u2019re keen on astrophotography, you\u2019ll know that there\u2019s a full moon tonight<\/a> and plenty more exciting celestial opportunities for astrophotography in May 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You might also like… <\/p>\n

If you’re into deep-sky astrophotography then you’ll want to pick up one of the best telescopes for astrophotography<\/a> and one of the best star tracker camera mounts for astrophotography<\/a>. For a more casual approach to astrophotography, take a look at the Nikon Coolpix P1100<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The best camera deals, reviews, product advice, and unmissable photography news, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Artemis II launch has rocketed space photography into the fore and I for one cannot get enough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-407010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}