DragonPhysics

Uranus moons

Page history last edited by Aaron G. 2 yrs ago

Uranus’s Moons

HISTORY

Uranus has twenty-seven known moons. The first two moons (Titania and Oberon) were discovered by William Herschel on March 13, 1787. Two more moons (Ariel and Umbriel) were discovered by William Lassell in 1851. In 1852, Herschel's son John Herschel gave the four then-known moons their names. In 1948 Gerard Kuiper discovered the moon Miranda.

The flyby of the Voyager 2 space probe in January 1986 led to the discovery of a further 10 inner moons, and another satellite Perdita was later found after studying old Voyager photographs. Two more small inner moons were discovered by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope. Until 1997, Uranus was the only giant planet with no known irregular satellites. Since then, nine distant irregular moons have been identified using ground-based telescopes.

The region between the main rings and Miranda appears to be very crowded. The small moons there are constantly perturbed by each other. The system is chaotic and apparently unstable, and simulations show that the moons may perturb each other into crossing orbits which may result in collisions between the moons.^[1]

Unlike most planetary moons, which are named from antiquity, all the moons of Uranus are named after characters from the works of Shakespeare and Alexander Pope--specifically Pope's The Rape of the Lock.

Basic Physical Data:

Order	Name (spheroidal moons in bold) (Pronunciation key)			Mean diameter (km)	Mass (kg)	Semi-major axis (km)	Orbital period (day)	Inclination (°) (to Uranus' equator)	Discovery date
1	Uranus VI	Cordelia	IPA: [kʰɔɹˈdi.li.ə]	40 ± 6	4.5×10¹⁶?	49,770	0.335034	0.147°	1986
2	Uranus VII	Ophelia	IPA: [oʊˈfi.li.ə]	43 ± 8	5.4×10¹⁶?	53,790	0.376400	0.093°	1986
3	Uranus VIII	Bianca	IPA: [baɪˈæŋ.kə]	51 ± 4	9.3×10¹⁶?	59,170	0.434579	0.162°	1986
4	Uranus IX	Cressida	IPA: [ˈkʰɹɛ.sə.də]	80 ± 4	3.43×10¹⁷?	61,780	0.463570	0.038°	1986
5	Uranus X	Desdemona	IPA: [ˌdɛz.dəˈmoʊ.nə]	64 ± 8	1.78×10¹⁷?	62,680	0.473650	0.164°	1986
6	Uranus XI	Juliet	IPA: [ˈdʒu.liˌɛt]	94 ± 8	5.57×10¹⁷?	64,350	0.493065	0.056°	1986
7	Uranus XII	Portia	IPA: [ˈpʰɔɹ.ʃə]	135 ± 8	1.68×10¹⁸?	66,090	0.513196	0.087°	1986
8	Uranus XIII	Rosalind	IPA: [ˈɹɑ.zəˌlɪnd]	72 ± 12	2.54×10¹⁷?	69,940	0.558460	0.285°	1986
9	Uranus XXVII	Cupid	IPA: [ˈkʰju.pɪd]	~ 17.8	3.8×10¹⁵?	74,800	0.618	0.1°	2003
10	Uranus XIV	Belinda	IPA: [bəˈlɪn.də]	81 ± 16	3.57×10¹⁷?	75,260	0.623527	0.031°	1986
11	Uranus XXV	Perdita	IPA: [ˈpʰɚ.də.tə]	~ 26.6	1.3×10¹⁶?	76,420	0.638	0.07°	1986
12	Uranus XV	Puck	IPA: [ˈpʰʌk]	162 ± 4	2.89×10¹⁸?	86,010	0.761833	0.318°	1985
13	Uranus XXVI	Mab	IPA: [ˈmæb]	~ 24.8	1.0×10¹⁶?	97,734	0.923	0.1335°	2003
14	Uranus V	Miranda	IPA: [mɪˈɹæn.də]	471.6 ± 1.4	(6.6 ± 0.7)×10¹⁹	129,390	1.413479	4.232°	1948
15	Uranus I	Ariel	IPA: [ˈe.ɹiˌɛl]	1157.8 ± 1.2	(1.35 ± 0.12)×10²¹	191,020	2.520379	0.260°	1851
16	Uranus II	Umbriel	IPA: [ˈʌm.bɹiˌɛl]	1169.4 ± 5.6	(1.17 ± 0.13)×10²¹	266,300	4.144177	0.205°	1851
17	Uranus III	Titania	IPA: [tʰaɪˈtʰeɪ.ni.ə]	1577.8 ± 3.6	(3.53 ± 0.09)×10²¹	435,910	8.705872	0.340°	1787
18	Uranus IV	Oberon	IPA: [ˈoʊ.bəˌɹɑn]	1522.8 ± 5.2	(3.01 ± 0.07)×10²¹	583,520	13.463239	0.058°	1787
19	Uranus XXII	Francisco	IPA: [frænˈsɪ.skoʊ]	~ 12	1.3×10¹⁵?	4,276,000	-267.12^**	147.459°	2001
20	Uranus XVI	Caliban	IPA: [ˈkʰæ.ləˌbæn]	~ 98	7.3×10¹⁷?	7,231,000	-579.39^**	139.885°	1997
21	Uranus XX	Stephano	IPA: [ˈstɛ.fəˌnoʊ]	~ 20	6×10¹⁵?	8,004,000	-677.48^**	141.873°	1999
22	Uranus XXI	Trinculo	IPA: [ˈtʰɹɪŋ.kjəˌloʊ]	~ 10	7.5×10¹⁴?	8,504,000	-748.83^**	166.252°	2001
23	Uranus XVII	Sycorax	IPA: [ˈsɪ.kəˌɹæks]	~ 190	5.4×10¹⁸?	12,179,000	-1285.62^**	152.456°	1997
24	Uranus XXIII	Margaret	IPA: [ˈmaɹ.gəˌɹɛt]	~ 11	1.3×10¹⁵?	14,345,000	+1654.32	51.455°	2003
25	Uranus XVIII	Prospero	IPA: [ˈpʰɹɑ.spəˌɹoʊ]	~ 30	2.1×10¹⁶?	16,256,000	-1962.95^**	146.017°	1999
26	Uranus XIX	Setebos	IPA: [ˈsɛ.təˌbɑs]	~ 30	2.1×10¹⁶?	17,418,000	-2196.35^**	145.883°	1999
27	Uranus XXIV	Ferdinand	IPA: [ˈfɚ.dəˌnænd]	~ 12	1.3×10¹⁵?	20,901,000	-2805.51^**	167.346°	2001

URanuS!

Diameter- 51,800 kilometers (32,190 miles)

Distance from the Sun- 2.87 billion kilometers (1.78 billion miles)

Rotation Period- -17.9

Revolution Period- 17.24 hrs

It is Retrograde

Tilt/Axis- Tilted 60 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation

There are magnetic fields- The magnetic field source is unknown; the electrically conductive, super-pressurized ocean of water and ammonia once thought to lie between the core and the atmosphere now appears to be nonexistent. The magnetic fields of Earth and other planets are believed to arise from electrical currents produced in their molten cores.

Average Density (gm/cm^3) - 1.29

Atmospheric composition- Hydrogen Helium Methane. The interior/Uranus's core is composed of rock and ice, and is likely no more than one Earth mass. Uranus appears to be composed of a mantle rich in water, methane, ammonia, and other elements.

Surface Temperature- (moon of Miranda: surface temperature is measured to be -187° C or -335° F with icy material on the crust.)

Atmospheric temperatures- On average, Uranus radiates the same amount of energy as an ideal, perfectly absorbing surface at a temperature of 59.1 kelvins (K; -353 °F, -214 °C). This radiation temperature is equal to the physical temperature of the atmosphere at a pressure of about 0.4 bar.

85% Hydrogen, 12% helium and 3% methane.

---------------

avg in diameter

Cordelia
Ophelia
Bianca
Cressida
Desdemona
Juliet
Portia
Rosaline
Belinda
Puck
Miranda
Ariel
Umbrial
Titania
Oberon

25
30
45
65
60
85
110
60
68
155
470
1160
1170
1580
1520

Planet Object Geology:

Surface/ Atmospheric Temperatures-

Many moons are icy moons with fascinating surface features.
These icy moons have no atmosphere or magnetosphere.
The interiors of these moons are not active, and there is not much possibility for life.

Geologically Active-

Miranda is geologically the most active body in the Uranus system.
Because the moon is large in comparison with Earth, the Earth-moon system is sometimes called a double planet.
Dwarf planets can also have moons.
Miranda is one of the most geologically active moons in the Uranus system.

On Miranda, there are many geological features such as

Craters
Coronae
Regions
Scarps
Sulci

moons and rings:

Rings-

1986U2R
6
5
4
Alpha
Beta
Eta
Gamma
Delta
1986U1R
Epsilon

Uranus's 27 known moons are accompanied by at least 10 narrow rings.
Each of the countless particles that make up the rings can be considered a tiny moon in its own orbit.
The rings are located closest to the planet, some small moons orbit just outside the rings, the largest moons orbit beyond them, and other small moons orbit much farther out.
The orbits of the outermost group of moons are elongated.

***Uranus has 27 fascinating moons and a complicated ring system***

Characteristics:

There is water ice on the five major moons.
Volcanic deposits observed on the major moons are generally flat, with lobed edges and surface ripples characteristic of fluid flow.
Water ice
iron-bearing minerals
carbon- originating from inside the moons or from Uranus's rings, which could have released methane gas that later decomposed to produce solid carbon when charged by particles and solar light.

All of Uranus's inner moons (those observed by Voyager 2) appear to be roughly half water ice and half rock. The composition of the moons outside the orbit of Oberon remains unknown, but they are likely captured asteroids.

Miranda, the innermost and smallest of the five major satellites, has a surface unlike any other moon that's been seen. It has giant fault canyons as much as 12 times as deep as the Grand Canyon, terraced layers, surfaces that appear very old, and others that look much younger.

Collisions between the tightly packed ring particles would naturally lead to an increase in the radial width of the rings.

Moons more massive than the rings can cause spreading in a process called shepherding.

Shepherding moons are satellites that orbit along side a ring.
Due to gravitational effects from the shepherding moon, the edges of the rings are kept sharp and distinct. If the shepherding moon was not present, then the ring material would have a tendency to spread out.
If two satellites are orbiting on both sides of the ring, then ring will be constrained on both sides into a narrow band.
Voyager 1 discovered the first pair of shepherding moons, Prometheus and Pandora, in 1981, shepherding the narrow F ring.

Source of Information we have:

Miranda Facts----

Miranda is not one of the larger satellites of Uranus.

It was the one that was approached the closest by Voyager 2. This was not the satellite scientists would have chosen to get close to if they had a choice, but they had no choice.
Voyager 2 had to fly close to the planet in order to get the boost it needed to go to Neptune. The resolution at which the larger satellites were photographed was around 2 to 3 kilometers (1.2 to 1.9 miles).
On the other hand, details on the order of a few hundred meters can be seen on Miranda. Fortunately, Miranda turned out to be the most remarkable of all the satellites.