Puck (moon)

Puck
Puck as imaged by Voyager 2 on January 1986. The image is centered on Puck's south pole. Despite the low resolution, several craters have been identified, including Bogle on the upper right
Discovery[1]
Discovered byStephen P. Synnott / Voyager 2
Discovery dateDecember 30, 1985
Designations
Designation
Uranus XV
Pronunciation/ˈpʌk/[2]
AdjectivesPuckian[3]
Orbital characteristics[4]
86004.444±0.064 km
Eccentricity0.00012±0.000061
0.76183287±0.000000014 d
8.21 km/s[a]
Inclination0.31921°±0.021° (to Uranus's equator)
Satellite ofUranus
Physical characteristics
Dimensions162 × 162 × 162 km[5][b]
81±2 km[5]
82000 km2[a]
Volume2226100±7.8% km3[6]
Mass(1.91±0.64)×1018 kg[7]
Mean density
~0.858 g/cm3[a]
~0.019 m/s2[a]
~0.056 km/s[a]
synchronous[5]
zero[5]
Albedo
  • 0.11±0.015 (geometric)
  • 0.035±0.006 (Bond) at 0.55 μm[8]
Temperature~65 K[a]
20.5[9]

Puck is the sixth-largest moon of Uranus. It was discovered in December 1985 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.[1] The name Puck follows the convention of naming Uranus's moons after characters from Shakespeare. The orbit of Puck lies between the rings of Uranus and the first of Uranus's large moons, Miranda. Puck is approximately spherical in shape and has diameter of about 162 km.[5] It has a dark, heavily cratered surface, which shows spectral signs of water ice.[10]

  1. ^ a b Smith Soderblom et al. 1986.
  2. ^ "Puck". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 2, 2020.
  3. ^ Sedgwick (1999) Shakespeare and the young writer
  4. ^ Jacobson 1998.
  5. ^ a b c d e Karkoschka, Voyager 2001.
  6. ^ a b French et al. 2024.
  7. ^ Jacobson (2023), as cited in French et al. (2024)[6]
  8. ^ Karkoschka, Hubble 2001.
  9. ^ Thomas Veverka et al. 1987.
  10. ^ Dumas Smith et al. 2003.


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