Prospero (moon)

Last updated
Prospero
Prospero - Uranus moon.jpg
Discovery image of Prospero, taken by the CFHT in July 1999
Discovery
Discovered by
Discovery date18 July 1999
Designations
Designation
Uranus XVIII
Pronunciation /ˈprɒspɛroʊ/ [1]
Adjectives Prosperonian /prɒspɛˈroʊniən/ , [2] Prosperian /prɒˈspɪəriən/ [3]
Orbital characteristics
Mean orbit radius
16,256,000 km [4] [5]
Eccentricity 0.4448 [5]
1978.29 d
Inclination 152° [4] (to the ecliptic) [4]
Satellite of Uranus
Physical characteristics
50 km
<50 km [6]
7.145±0.092 h [6]
Albedo 0.04 (Assumed)
<0,03 [6]
23,2
10,6

    Prospero also known as Uranus XVIII is a one of the largest retrograde irregular satellite of Uranus

    Contents

    Animation of discovery images to show Prospero's motion among background stars Prospero discovery image.gif
    Animation of discovery images to show Prospero's motion among background stars

    Discovery and Naming

    Prospero was discovered on 18 July 1999 by the astrophysicist Matthew Holman and his team, and given the provisional designation S/1999 U 3.

    Confirmed as Uranus XVIII it was named after the sorcerer Prospero in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest .

    Orbit

    Prospero orbits Uranus at an average distance of 16,256,000 km, in 1978 days, at an inclination of about 152° to the ecliptic, in a retrograde direction and with an high eccentricity of 0.445.

    Physical characteristics

    Prospero estimated diameter is 50 kilometers, assuming an albedo of 4%.

    The satellite appears neutral (grey) in visible light (colour indices B−V=0.80, R−V=0.39), [7] similar to Setebos.

    Measurements of Prosperos light curve by the Kepler space telescope indicate that its rotation period is about 7 hours and 8,76 min. [6] which makes it one of the fastest-rotating moons in our solar system.

    Origin

    Prospero probably did not form near Uranus but was captured by Uranus later. The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong to the same dynamic cluster as Setebos, suggesting a common origin. [8] Both moons could probably the remnant of a broken, captured heliocentric asteroid.

    See also

    References

    1. ↑ Benjamin Smith (1903), The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    2. ↑ Emenyonu, Ernest (2003), Emerging perspectives on Chinua Achebe, v. 1.
    3. ↑ in scare quotes in Bate (1997) The genius of Shakespeare
    4. 1 2 3 Sheppard, Jewitt & Kleyna 2005, p. 523, Table 3.
    5. 1 2 Yeomans, Donald K. (28 June 2007). "Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters". JPL/NASA. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
    6. 1 2 3 4 Farkas-Takács, A.; Kiss, Cs.; Pál, A.; Molnár, L.; Szabó, Gy. M.; Hanyecz, O.; et al. (September 2017). "Properties of the Irregular Satellite System around Uranus Inferred from K2, Herschel, and Spitzer Observations". The Astronomical Journal. 154 (3): 13. arXiv: 1706.06837 . Bibcode:2017AJ....154..119F. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa8365 . S2CID   118869078. 119.
    7. ↑ Grav, Holman & Fraser 2004.
    8. ↑ Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Gladman, Brett J.; Aksnes, Kaare Photometric survey of the irregular satellites, Icarus, 166, (2003), pp. 33–45. arXiv: astro-ph/0301016
    9. Sheppard, Jewitt & Kleyna 2005, p. 523, Table 3 ... ri (km) ... 25 ... i Radius of satellite assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.