Uranus's Small Moons

Uranus's innermost ten moons are:

• Cordelia,
• Ophelia,
• Bianca,
• Cressida,
• Desdemona,
• Juliet,
• Portia,
• Rosalind,
• Belinda and
• Puck.

Cordelia

• Cordelia (Uranus VI) is the innermost of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 49,752 km
  • diameter: 26 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 7
• Cordelia is a daughter of Lear in Shakespeare's King Lear.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.
• Cordelia appears to be the inner shepherding satellite for Uranus's Epsilon ring.
• Cordelia and Ophelia orbit inside the synchronous orbit radius.

Pictures

1. Cordelia, Ophelia and rings 152k gif; 255k jpg

More about Cordelia

• from LANL

Ophelia

• Ophelia (Uranus VII) is the second of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 53,764 km
  • diameter: 32 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 8
• Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.
• Ophelia appears to be the outer shepherding satellite for Uranus's Epsilon ring.

More about Ophelia

• from LANL

Bianca

• Bianca (Uranus VIII) is the third of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 59,165 km
  • diameter: 44 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 9
• Bianca is the sister of Katherine in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

More about Bianca

• from LANL

Cressida

• Cressida (Uranus IX) is the fourth of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 61,767 km
  • diameter: 66 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 3
• Cressida is the daughter of Calchas in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

More about Cressida

• from LANL

Desdemona

• Desdemona (Uranus X) is the fifth of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 62,659 km
  • diameter: 58 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 6
• Desdemona is the wife of Othello in Shakespeare's Othello.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

More about Desdemona

• from LANL

Juliet

• Juliet (Uranus XI) is the sixth of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 64,358 km
  • diameter: 84 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 2
• Juliet is the tragic heroine in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

More about Juliet

• from LANL

Portia

• Portia (Uranus XII) is the seventh of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 66,097 km
  • diameter: 110 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 1
• Portia is a rich heiress in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

More about Portia

• from LANL

Rosalind

• Rosalind (Uranus XIII) is the eighth of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 69,927 km
  • diameter: 54 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 4
• Rosalind is a daughter of the banished Duke in Shakespeare's As You Like It.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

More about Rosalind

• from LANL

Belinda

• Belinda (Uranus XIV) is the ninth of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 75,255 km
  • diameter: 68 km
  a.k.a. 1986 U 5
• Belinda is the heroine Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

Pictures

• Belinda 1k gif
• Belina and rings 291k gif

More about Belinda

• from LANL

• Puck (Uranus XV) is the tenth of Uranus's known satellites:
  • distance from Uranus: 86,006 km
  • diameter: 154 km
  a.k.a. 1985 U 1
• Puck is a mischievous fairy in Shakespeare's Midsummer-Night's Dream.
• Discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.
• Of the 10 new Uranian moons discovered by Voyager 2, only Puck was discovered soon enough that the observation schedule could be adjusted to get images.
• Puck and the other small moons are very dark (albedo less than 0.1).

Pictures

1. (above) Puck 5k gif

More about Puck

• from LANL

Open Issues

• Cressida and Bianca are within the Roche limit; are they stable or will they be disrupted?
• These small moons are all very dark; Uranus's larger moons are much brighter. Why?
• We know next to nothing about these moons. Even the basic orbital and size data are not very accurate.