Why is Uranus called Ariel?
Why is Uranus called Ariel?
Ariel is one of the 27 known moons of the planet Uranus. Ariel is named after a sky spirit in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock. Ariel is also designated as Uranus I.
How is Ariel related to Uranus?
Among Uranus’s five major moons, Ariel is the second closest to the planet, orbiting at the distance of about 190,000 km. Its orbit has a small eccentricity and is inclined very little relative to the equator of Uranus. Its orbital period is around 2.5 Earth days, coincident with its rotational period.
Is Ariel a moon of Uranus?
Ariel’s surface appears to be the youngest of all the moons of Uranus. It has few large craters and many small ones, indicating that fairly recent low-impact collisions wiped out the large craters that would have been left by much earlier, bigger strikes.
Is Ariel the brightest moon of Uranus?
Features of Ariel Ariel is the brightest moon in the Uranian system. The most prominent feature of Ariel is the network of interconnected rift valleys. They cross the entire surface of the moon for hundreds of miles (or kilometers), and reach depths of 6 miles (10 km).
Which planet is the twin of Uranus?
Neptune
The size, mass, composition and rotation of Uranus and Neptune are in fact so similar that they are often called planetary twins.
Does Miranda have water?
Miranda is the least spherical of Uranus’s satellites, with an equatorial diameter 3% wider than its polar diameter. Only water has been detected so far on Miranda’s surface, though it has been speculated that methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide or nitrogen may also exist at 3% concentrations.
What is Miranda made of?
Miranda is thought to be composed of about water ice and half rocky material. The temperature of this icy world averages just -335 F (-187° C). Astronomers had expected this moon to show little or no history of internal activity, much like Jupiter’s moon Callisto.
Who is Earth twin?
Venus
Thanks to Venus Express, Taylor now describes Venus as “Earth’s twin, but separated at birth.”
Is Miranda the smallest moon?
Miranda [mih-RAN-dah] is the eleventh of Uranus’ moons and is the fifth largest. It is the smallest and innermost of the planet’s five major moons and is without a doubt the most interesting. Miranda was named after the daughter of the magician Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
How big is the moon Miranda?
146.52 miMiranda / Radius