Cordelia is the innermost known moon of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 20, 1986, and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 7.[1] It was not detected again until the Hubble Space Telescope observed it in 1997.[7][9] Cordelia takes its name from the youngest daughter of Lear in William Shakespeare's King Lear. It is also designated Uranus VI.[10]
 Cordelia (Imaged 24 January 1986) | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Richard J. Terrile / Voyager 2 |
| Discovery date | January 20, 1986 |
| Designations | |
Designation | Uranus VI |
| Pronunciation | /kɔːrˈdiːliə/[2] |
| Adjectives | Cordelian[3] |
| Orbital characteristics[4] | |
| 49751.722±0.149 km | |
| Eccentricity | 0.00026±0.000096 |
| 0.33503384±0.00000058 d | |
| Inclination | 0.08479°±0.031° (to Uranus' equator) |
| Satellite of | Uranus |
| Group | ring shepherd |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 50 × 36 × 36 km[5][note 1] |
| ~5200 km2[a] | |
| Volume | 33900±34.9% km3[6] |
| Mass | (6.08±0.57)×1016 kg[6] |
Mean density | 1.79+0.97 −0.49 g/cm3[6] |
| ~0.006–0.013 m/s2[a] | |
| ~0.018–0.021 km/s[a] | |
| synchronous[5] | |
| zero[5] | |
| Albedo | 0.06±0.01[7] 0.07[8] |
| Temperature | ~65 K[a] |
| |
Other than its orbit,[4] size of 50 × 36 km,[5] and geometric albedo of 0.06,[7] virtually nothing is known about it. In the Voyager 2 images, Cordelia appears as an elongated object with its major axis pointing towards Uranus. The ratio of axes of Cordelia's prolate spheroid is 0.7±0.2.[5]
Cordelia acts as the inner shepherd satellite for Uranus's ε ring.[11] Cordelia's orbit is within Uranus's synchronous orbit radius, and is therefore slowly decaying due to tidal deceleration.[5]
Cordelia is very close to a 5:3 orbital resonance with Rosalind.[12]
See also
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Smith, B. A. (1986-01-27). "Satellites and Rings of Uranus". IAU Circular. 4168. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ Benjamin Smith (1903). The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.
- ^ Jennifer Bates (2010). Hegel and Shakespeare on Moral Imagination. p. 102.
- ^ a b Jacobson, R. A. (1998). "The Orbits of the Inner Uranian Satellites From Hubble Space Telescope and Voyager 2 Observations". The Astronomical Journal. 115 (3): 1195–1199. Bibcode:1998AJ....115.1195J. doi:10.1086/300263.
- ^ a b c d e f Karkoschka, Erich (2001). "Voyager's Eleventh Discovery of a Satellite of Uranus and Photometry and the First Size Measurements of Nine Satellites". Icarus. 151 (1): 69–77. Bibcode:2001Icar..151...69K. doi:10.1006/icar.2001.6597.
- ^ a b c French, Richard G.; Hedman, Matthew M.; Nicholson, Philip D.; Longaretti, Pierre-Yves; McGhee-French, Colleen A. (2024-03-15). "The Uranus system from occultation observations (1977–2006): Rings, pole direction, gravity field, and masses of Cressida, Cordelia, and Ophelia". Icarus. 411: 115957. arXiv:2401.04634. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2024.115957. ISSN 0019-1035.
- ^ a b c Karkoschka, Erich (2001). "Comprehensive Photometry of the Rings and 16 Satellites of Uranus with the Hubble Space Telescope". Icarus. 151 (1): 51–68. Bibcode:2001Icar..151...51K. doi:10.1006/icar.2001.6596.
- ^ Williams, Dr. David R. (23 November 2007). "Uranian Satellite Fact Sheet". NASA (National Space Science Data Center). Retrieved 12 December 2008.
- ^ Showalter, M. R.; Lissauer, J. J. (2003-09-03). "Satellites of Uranus". IAU Circular. 8194. Retrieved 2011-10-31.
- ^ "Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. July 21, 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2006.
- ^ Esposito, L. W. (2002). "Planetary rings". Reports on Progress in Physics. 65 (12): 1741–1783. Bibcode:2002RPPh...65.1741E. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/65/12/201. S2CID 250909885.
- ^ Murray, Carl D.; Thompson, Robert P. (1990-12-06). "Orbits of shepherd satellites deduced from the structure of the rings of Uranus". Nature. 348 (6301): 499–502. Bibcode:1990Natur.348..499M. doi:10.1038/348499a0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4320268.