Prospero is a relatively small retrograde irregular satellite of Uranus 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.
 Discovery image of Prospero, taken by the CFHT in July 1999 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | |
| Discovery date | 18 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 | |
| 25 km (estimate)[6] <50 km[7] | |
| ~8000 km2 (estimate) | |
| Volume | ~65,000 km3 (estimate) |
| Mass | ~8.5×1016 kg (estimate) |
Mean density | ~1.3 g/cm3 (assumed) |
| ~0.0063 m/s2 (estimate) | |
| ~0.021 km/s (estimate) | |
| 7.145±0.092 h[7] | |
| ? | |
| Albedo | 0.04 (assumed)[6] |
| Temperature | ~65 K (estimate) |
The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong to the same dynamic cluster as Sycorax and Setebos, suggesting common origin.[8] However, this suggestion does not appear to be supported by the observed colours. The satellite appears neutral (grey) in visible light (colour indices B−V=0.80, R−V=0.39),[9] similar to Setebos but different from Sycorax (which is light red).
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Benjamin Smith (1903), The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- ^ Emenyonu, Ernest (2003), Emerging perspectives on Chinua Achebe, v. 1.
- ^ in scare quotes in Bate (1997) The genius of Shakespeare
- ^ a b c Sheppard, Jewitt & Kleyna 2005, p. 523, Table 3.
- ^ a b Yeomans, Donald K. (28 June 2007). "Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters". JPL/NASA. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
- ^ a b Sheppard, Jewitt & Kleyna 2005, p. 523, Table 3 ... ri (km) ... 25 ... i Radius of satellite assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ 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
- ^ Grav, Holman & Fraser 2004.
- Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Fraser, Wesley C. (20 September 2004). "Photometry of Irregular Satellites of Uranus and Neptune". The Astrophysical Journal. 613 (1): L77–L80. arXiv:astro-ph/0405605. Bibcode:2004ApJ...613L..77G. doi:10.1086/424997. S2CID 15706906.
- Sheppard, S. S.; Jewitt, D.; Kleyna, J. (2005). "An Ultradeep Survey for Irregular Satellites of Uranus: Limits to Completeness". The Astronomical Journal. 129 (1): 518–525. arXiv:astro-ph/0410059. Bibcode:2005AJ....129..518S. doi:10.1086/426329. S2CID 18688556.