Prospero

Prospero (pronounced /ˈprɒspəroʊ/ PROS-pər-oh) 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.

The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong, together with Sycorax and Setebos to the same dynamic cluster, suggesting common origin.[4] However, this suggestion does not appear to be supported by the observed colours. The satellite appears neutral (grey) in the visible light (colour indices B-V=0.80, R-V=0.39)[5] , similar to Setebos but different from Sycorax (which is light red).

See also

* Uranus' natural satellites

References

1. ^ a b Sheppard 2005, p. 523
2. ^ a b Donald K. Yeomans (2007-06-28). "Planetary Satellite Mean Orbital Parameters". JPL/NASA. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?sat_elem#uranus. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
3. ^ a b c Sheppard, Scott S.; David C. Jewitt, Jan Kleyna (2005). "An Ultradeep Survey for Irregular Satellites of Uranus: Limits to Completeness". The Astronomical Journal 129 (1): 518–525. http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0410059. Retrieved 20 October 2009. "Table 3 ... ri (km) ... 25 ... i Radius of satellite assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04.".
4. ^ Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Gladman, Brett J.; Aksnes, Kaare Photometric survey of the irregular satellites,Icarus, 166,(2003), pp. 33-45. Preprint
5. ^ Tommy Grav, Matthew J. Holman, and Wesley C. Fraser Photometry of Irregular Satellites of Uranus and Neptune,The Astrophysical Journal, 613, (2004), pp. L77–L80. Preprint

External links

* Prospero Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
* David Jewiit pages
* Uranus' Known Satellites (by Scott S. Sheppard)
* Ephemeris IAU-NSES

Moons of Uranus