Recently Discovered moons of Uranus

Image Source: http://www.nineplanets.org/uranew.html

Caliban and Sycorax

Caliban and Sycorax are recently discovered moons of Uranus. Both were discovered by land-based telescopes in 1997. Caliban (formerly known as S/1997 U 1) orbits Uranus at about 4.5 million miles and has a diameter of only 50 miles. Sycorax (formerly known as S/1997 U 2) orbits Uranus at about 7.6 million miles and has a diameter of only 100 miles. Their sizes are estimated based on how bright they appear. The name Caliban comes from a character in Shakespeare's play The Tempest who is a savage, deformed slave of the magician Prospero. The name Sycorax comes from a witch in the same play. Caliban was discovered by using the 200 inch Hale telescope. Before these moons were discovered Uranus was thought to be the only one of the gas giants not to have moons that orbit in a plane other than that of the equator.

2001U1

This moon was discovered by Brett Gladman and JJ Kavelaars. The same men who discovered Caliban and Sycorax. 2001U1 is more faint than the moons discovered by Voyager 2.

Prospero, Setebos and Stephano

All of these moons are named after characters in William Shakespeare's The Tempest. These moons were first imaged in July 1999. These moons orbit Uranus at approximately 10 to 25 million kilometers from Uranus. They are probably about 30 to 40 kilometers in diameter.

The Solar System : Uranus: Recently Discovered moons of Uranus

created by Titan Miller,
Burlington Community High School Math Department, Burlington Community High School

last modified: December 31, 2002

URL: www.titanmiller.net/pages/uranew.html