May 31, 1999
The universe is under no obligation to make sense to us, and yet here you are — a collection of atoms that somehow learned to think, to...
Uranus' Moon 18
Birthday · May 31, 1999
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published May 31, 1999. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
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.