The Hubble Space Telescope has photographed images showing that the planet Uranus has two more moons than previously believed and two rings which are only faintly apparent.
The two new moons have been named Mab and Cupid. There is now a total of 27 satellites known to be orbiting Uranus.
Ironically, scientists say they were not looking for new moons or rings when the decided to use Hubble's camera to photograph Uranus. Instead, they were attempting to study the previously known rings and moons according to Mark Showalter of the SEI Institute. There were 11 rings previously known to exist around Uranus.
Although the Voyager 2 space craft sent back images from Uranus in 1986, scientists were unable to identify these two moons. A second look at those photographs after the discovery from Hubble shows that the moons were there but could scientists did not recognize them.
'The discoveries all came from Hubble,' Showalter told CNN. 'The Voyager results came because it's much easier to find something you are looking for.'
The images from Hubble were also able to verify the existence of another moon of Uranus, Perdita. Voyager 2 first identified Perdita in 1986 but scientists had been unable to find it using traditional telescopes since that time.
'Sometimes you find things you aren't looking for,' Showalter said. 'No one thought this region of Uranus was very interesting.'
