Sunny Priyan
In 2003, astronomers using Hubble discovered two small moons around Uranus, called Cupid and Mab.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and W. Sparks (STScI)
The moons are about 8 to 10 miles across (12-16 km), or roughly the size of San Francisco.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Hubble also detected two large outer rings around Uranus.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Ten years later researchers found a small, faint moon called Hippocamp in images Hubble took of Neptune between 2004 and 2009.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Astronomers discovered the moon while studying faint ring-arcs around the planet.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Then they combed through 150 archived Hubble images of Neptune looking for the moon. Using those Hubble images, they were able to plot Hippocamp’s 23-hour orbit around Neptune.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and W. Sparks (STScI)