The objects, detected using the world's largest electronic camera mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, are somewhat smaller than a previous pair of irregular moons detected around Uranus in 1997. Irregular satellites are ones whose orbits are eccentric and highly inclined. Prior to 1997, Uranus was believed not to have any irregular moons.

The new objects have been tracked only for several days, so it remains possible that they are "interlopers" passing by the planet. But since they appear to be following Uranus closely, they are considered more likely to be moons.

An international team of scientists announced the detection on July 27. The team includes J.J. Kavelaars of McMaster University, Brett Gladman of the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur (OCA), Matthew Holman of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Jean-Marie Petit and Hans Scholl of OCA.