Cordelia (moon)

Cordelia
Cordelia (Imaged 24 January 1986)
Discovery[1]
Discovered byRichard J. Terrile / Voyager 2
Discovery dateJanuary 20, 1986
Designations
Designation
Uranus VI
Pronunciation/kɔːrˈdiːliə/[2]
AdjectivesCordelian[3]
Orbital characteristics[4]
49751.722±0.149 km
Eccentricity0.00026±0.000096
0.33503384±0.00000058 d
Inclination0.08479°±0.031° (to Uranus' equator)
Satellite ofUranus
Groupring shepherd
Physical characteristics
Dimensions50 × 36 × 36 km[5][note 1]
~5200 km2[a]
Volume33900±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]
Albedo0.06±0.01[7]
0.07[8]
Temperature~65 K[a]
  1. ^ Only two dimensions are known; the third dimension has been assumed to equal the smaller known dimension.

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]

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]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference IAUC 4168 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Benjamin Smith (1903). The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.
  3. ^ Jennifer Bates (2010). Hegel and Shakespeare on Moral Imagination. p. 102.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Jacobson 1998 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference Karkoschka, Voyager 2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference FrenchEtAl2024 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Karkoschka, Hubble 2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Williams 2007 nssdc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference IAUC 8194 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gazetteer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Esposito 2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Murray Thompson 1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).