Another member of Neptune's court

Last July, the Hubble telescope discovered a previously undetected moon orbiting Neptune. Considering Voyager 2 went past Neptune on its way out of the solar system, it may come as a surprise that no one found this until now. However, NASA says this teeny satellite, which is Neptune's smallest at only 12 miles across, is "roughly 100 million times fainter than the faintest star that can be seen with the naked eye." You can see this moon compared to others in the following picture.

Picture from NASA and ESA on Wikimedia Commons via public domain

Unlike other discoveries in recent times, this one probably won't be up for public renaming because most of Neptune's moons are named after Greek god(desse)s of water-related things to continue the blue/Neptune/ocean theme. Disney fans will recognize Triton, Neptune's largest moon, while other names include Neptune/Poseidon's children (Proteus, Thalassa, etc) and minor water deities (Naiad as a general term, plus specific ones like Halimede and Galatea). A lot of moons follow this trend; Mars' moons are named after the sons of Ares, for example. The moons of Uranus, however, follow Shakespearean nomenclature (Titania and Oberon are named after the queen and king of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream).

Here's to hoping this 12-mile bit of rock gets a good name.