For space science enthusiasts, that’s the big news: astronomers are finally on the brink of revealing a new generation of moons that orbit the ice giants of the outer Solar System, namely Uranus and Neptune. Those distant worlds remain mysterious to astronomers, and if confirmed, the newly discovered satellites would likely overflow with wish-fulfillment dreams in planetary scientific communities worldwide.

Finding new moons is an excruciatingly slow affair. Astronomers peek outward from the planets for years, hoping to spot occasional glimmers of light – revealed only by patient scrutiny of sliver-like chunks of our solar system.

The eighth and most distant planet from the Sun, Neptune is orbited by various moons, of which the largest is Triton, perhaps its most well-known natural satellite. Most astronomers suspect that the planet has hundreds or even thousands of undetected smaller moons.

In a similar vein, Uranus, planet number seven from the Sun, also has a complicated assortment of moons, with its five major moons (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon) being orbiting entities of exquisite complexity. There are likely more moons to be found circling the planet at greater distances.

The discovery of new moons would help us fill in blank spots in the outer solar system, expanding our understanding of distant, frozen planets. Because the formation and evolution of these giant gas planets is one of the most difficult cosmic feats to explain, the moons in orbit around them can help us reconstruct the processes that led to the development of icy giants such as Uranus and Neptune – along with their hostile environments.

All astronomers have to do is keep looking. Perhaps, someday, we’ll be rewarded with a few new moons first orbiting Neptune, and next orbiting Uranus, even if one or both remain elusive. The best telescopes were already scanning the boundaries of Uranus’s system, and hunting through increasingly accurate data on these distant gas giants. The prospects for success were better than they’d ever been. The coming year was sure to be full of palaver; possible discoveries awaited in the months and years to come.

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