Prospero (moon)
Prospero is a small retrograde non-spherical moon of Uranus found on 1999-07-18 by the astrophysicist Matthew Holman and his team, and given designation S/1999 U 3. Confirmed as Uranus XVIII it was named after the sorcerer Prospero in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
| Discovery | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovered by | Matthew J. Holman, John J. Kavelaars, Brett J. Gladman, Jean-Marc Petit, and Hans Scholl | ||||||
| Discovered in | July 18, 1999 | ||||||
| Orbital characteristics | |||||||
| Mean radius | 16,243,000 km | ||||||
| Orbital eccentricity | 0.4431 | ||||||
| Orbital period | 1977.29 d | ||||||
| Inclination | 152° (to the ecliptic)[1] | ||||||
| Is a moon of | Uranus | ||||||
| Physical characteristics | |||||||
| Mean diameter | ~25 km (estimate)[1] | ||||||
| Surface area | ~2,000 km² (estimate) | ||||||
| Volume | ~8,000 km3 (estimate) | ||||||
| Mass | ~2.1×1016 kg (estimate) | ||||||
| Mean density | ~1.5 g/cm3 (estimate) | ||||||
| Surface gravity | ~0.0063 m/s2 (estimate) | ||||||
| Escape velocity | ~0.014 km/s (estimate) | ||||||
| Rotation period | ? | ||||||
| Axial tilt | ?° | ||||||
| Albedo | 0.04 (assumed)[1] | ||||||
| Surface temp. |
| ||||||
| Atmospheric pressure | 0 kPa | ||||||
The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong, together with Sycorax and Setebos to the same dynamic cluster, suggesting common origin.[2] However, this suggestion does not appear to be supported by the observed colours. The moon appears grey in the visible light[3] , similar to Setebos but different from Sycorax (which is light red).
Related pages
References
- Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, and Jan Kleyna An Ultradeep Survey for Irregular Satellites of Uranus: Limits to Completeness, The Astronomical Journal, 129 (2005), pages 518–525 . Preprint
- Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Gladman, Brett J.; Aksnes, Kaare Photometric survey of the irregular satellites,Icarus, 166,(2003), pp. 33-45. Preprint
- Tommy Grav, Matthew J. Holman, and Wesley C. Fraser Photometry of Irregular Satellites of Uranus and Neptune,The Astrophysical Journal, 613, (2004), pp. L77–L80. Preprint
Other websites
- Prospero Profile Archived 2007-06-08 at the Wayback Machine by NASA's Solar System Exploration
- David Jewiit pages
- Scott Sheppard pages
| Moons | Ariel · Belinda · Bianca · Caliban · Cordelia · Cressida · Cupid · Desdemona · Ferdinand · Francisco · Juliet · Mab · Margaret · Miranda · Oberon · Ophelia · Perdita · Portia · Prospero · Puck · Rosalind · Setebos · Stephano · Sycorax · Titania · Trinculo · Umbriel Other: Arieal features · Miranda features · Puck Craters · Umbriel craters Miranda's Verona Rupes · Umbriel Crater Wunda |  |
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