URANUS' MOONS
| Ariel| Belinda| Bianca| Cordelia| Cressida| Desdemona| Juliet| Miranda|
| Oberon| Ophelia| Portia| Puck| Rosalind| Titania| Umbriel|
Ariel
       Ariel ("AIR ee el") is the twelfth of Uranus's known satellites with a diameter of 1158 km, a mass of 1.27e21 kg, and an orbit that takes it 190,930 km from Uranus. Discovered by Lassell in 1851, it was namd after the mischievous airy spirit in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Ariel is Umbriel's twin, but in size only. Ariel does. however, appear quite similar to and Titania (Titania is 35% larger though). All of Uranus' large moons are a mixture of about 40-50% water ice with the rest rock, a somewhat larger fraction of rock than Saturn's large moons such as Rhea. Ariel is the lightest of the moons in color. It's surface is one of the least cratered, which also means one of the youngest. It resembles Titania more than Umbriel. It's surface displays a network of faults and rift valleys. On Ariel, most of the terrain has been resurfaced by volcanoes. The lava that is emitted is not molten rock like that of earth. Instead, it is a glacierlike mixture of ice and rock, slightly warmer than the surface of Ariel. This material mya have flowed like a glacier. Water froze and expanded , shatterng the crust , and resulting in valleys.
       Ariel's surface is a mixture of cratered terrain and systems of interconnected valleys hundreds of kilometers long (left, above) and more than 10 km deep. This is similar to, but much larger and more extensive than the situation on Titania. Some of the craters appear to be half-submerged. Ariel's surface is clearly relatively young (though older than some such as Enceladus); obviously some sort of resurfacing processes have been at work. Some ridges in the middle of the valleys are interpreted as upwellings of ice. Ariel may have been hot inside long ago, but it's cold now. Perhaps the valleys are cracks which formed when Ariel froze.

Belinda
       Belinda is the ninth of Uranus' satellites. The orbit is 75,255 km from Uranus. It's diameter is 68 km. The name, Belinda, is from Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock.The moon, Belinda, was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986. Bianca
       Bianca is the third of Uranus' satellites. Its orbit is 59,165 km from Uranus and has a diameter of 44 km. Its mass is unknown. The name, Bianca, is from Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. This moon was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

Cordelia
       Cordelia is the innermost of Uranus' satellites. It's diameter is 26 km long. The name Cordelia is from Shakespeare's King Lear. Cordelia was discovered by the Voyager 2 in 1986. The two moons, Cordelia and Ophelia, orbit inside the orbit radius.

Cressida
       Cressida is the fourth of Uranus' satellites. It has an orbit of 61,767 km from Uranus. The diameter is 66 km long. The name, Cressida, is the daughter of Calchas in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida. This moon was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

Desdemona
       Desdemona is the fifth of Uranus' satellites. Its orbit 62,659 km from Uranus. The diameter is 58 km. The mass is unknown. The name, Desdemona, is the wife of Othello in Shakespeare's Othello. This moon was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

Juliet
       Juliet is the sixth of Uranus'satellites. The orbit 64,358 km from Uranus. Juliet's diameter is 84 km. The mass of this moon is unknown. The name Juliet, is from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Juliet, the moon, was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

Miranda
       Miranda [mih-RAN-dah] is not one of the larger satellites of Uranus; however, 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. Miranda is a small satellite with a diameter of 470 kilometers (290 miles). Its surface is unlike anything in the solar system with features that are jumbled together in a haphazard fashion. Miranda consists of huge fault canyons as deep as 20 kilometers (12 miles), terraced layers and a mixture of old and young surfaces. The younger regions might have been produced by incomplete differentiation of the moon, a process in which upwelling of lighter material surfaced in limited areas. Alternatively, scientists believe that Miranda may have been shattered as many as five times during its evolution. After each shattering the moon would have reassembled from the remains of its former self with portions of the core exposed and portions of the surface buried. Miranda's appearence can be explained by theories, but the real reason is still unknown. Given Miranda's small size and low temperature (-187° C or -335° F), the degree and diversity of the tectonic activity on this moon has surprised scientists. It is believed that an additional heat source such as tidal heating caused by the gravitational tug of Uranus must have been involved. In addition, some means must have mobilized the flow of icy material at low temperatures. Miranda was named after the daughter of the magician Prospero in Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Miranda Statistics Discovered by Gerard Kuiper Date of discovery 1948 Mass (kg) 6.33e+19 Mass (Earth = 1) 1.0592e-05 Equatorial radius (km) 235.8 Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) 3.6971e-02 Mean density (gm/cm^3) 1.15 Mean distance from Uranus (km) 129,780 Rotational period (days) 1.413479 Orbital period (days) 1.413479 Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 6.68 Orbital eccentricity 0.0027 Orbital inclination (degrees) 4.22 Escape velocity (km/sec) 0.189 Visual geometric albedo 0.27 Magnitude (Vo) 16.3 Mean surface temperature -187°C

Oberon
       Oberon is the outermost moon of Uranus and the second largest. It's diameter is 1523 km. It has craters of all sizes, some over 60 miles in diameter. In comparison to other moos, Oberon is rather evenly cratered. It is the twin of Titania-almost identical in size, density, color, and reflectivity.
       Here's an interesting fact, the names Oberon and Titania were chosen together because Oberon is the King of the Fairies and husband of Titania in Shakespeare's Midsummer-Night's Dream. Oberon and another moon, Umbriel appear to be similar as well. Oberon is 35% larger. Oberon has many large faults. This is indicative of geologic activity in Oberon's past history.

Ophelia
       Ophelia is the second of Uranus' satellites. Its diameter is 32 km in length. Its mass is unknown. The name, Ophelia, is from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The moon, Ophelia, was discovered by the Voyager 2 in 1986. Ophelia seems to be the outer satellite for Epsilon Ring of Uranus.

Portia
       Portia is the seventh of Uranus' moons. It's orbit is 66,097 km from Uranus. The diameter is 110 km. The name, Portia, is from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. The moon, Portia, was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

Puck
       Puck is the tenth of Uranus' satellites. It's orbit is 86,006 km from Uranus. Its diameter 154 km. The name Puck, is from Shakespeare's Midsummer-Night's Dream. It was discovered by the Voyager 2 in 1986. Puck and the other small moons are very dark.

Rosalind
       Rosalind is the eighth of Uranus' satellites. Its orbit is 69,927 km from Uranus. The diameter is 54 km. The name, Rosalind, is from Shakespeare's As You Like It. The moon, Rosalind, was discovered by Voyager 2 in 1986.

Titania
       Titania is the fourteenth and largest of Uranus' moons. It is the twin moon of Oberon. It is named after the wife of a character, Oberon, in Shakespeare's, Midsummer Night's Dream. Its almost the same as Oberon in size, denisty, color, and even reflectivity. Titania's diameter is 1578 km long. The terrain of Titania is crisscrossed by cracks, ranging some 1,000 miles long, 30 miles across, and as much as 3 miles deep. It is about half rock and half ice. The surface temperature of the satellite is -315 degrees Farenheit.
       Titania's surface is a combination of craters and networks of interconnected valleys that are hundreds of kilometers long. Some of these craters seem to be partially submerged.
       One theory about this moon's history is that it may once have been hot enough to be a liquid. The surface probably cooled first; and when the interior froze it expanded forcing the surface to crack and resulted in the formation of the valleys.

Umbriel
       Umbriel is one of Uranus' more bland moons. It is the darkest of the moons and shows little variation in color. It has no craters with bright rays like Oberon. There are two bright features visible. One is on the slope of the central peak of a crater. The second is a ring that is 50 miles in diameter. Umbriel has a diameter of 740 miles and is smaller than Oberon and Titania. It can be that the dark regions are made of carbon-rich rick with colored ice.