Prospero (moon)

+ Prospero Discovery Discovered by Matthew J. Holman, John J. Kavelaars, Brett J. Gladman, Jean-Marc Petit, and Hans Scholl Discovered in July 18, 1999 Orbital characteristics Mean radius 16,243,000 km Orbital eccentricity 0.4431 Orbital period 1977.29 d Inclination 152° (to the ecliptic)Scott S. Sheppard, David C. Jewitt, and Jan Kleyna
An Ultradeep Survey for Irregular Satellites of Uranus: Limits to Completeness, The Astronomical Journal, 129 (2005), pages 518–525 . Preprint Is a moon of Uranus Physical characteristics Mean diameter ~25 km (estimate) Surface area ~2,000 km² (estimate) Volume ~8,000 km3 (estimate) Mass ~2.1 kg (estimate) Mean density ~1.5 g/cm3 (estimate) Surface gravity ~0.0063 m/s2 (estimate) Escape velocity ~0.014 km/s (estimate) Rotation period ? Axial tilt ?° Albedo 0.04 (assumed) Surface temp. min  mean  max  ~64 K (estimate)  Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa
Prospero is a small retrograde non-spherical moon of Uranus found on 1999-07-18 by the astrophysicist Matthew Holman and his team, and given 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.Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Gladman, Brett J.; Aksnes, Kaare
Photometric survey of the irregular satellites,Icarus, 166,(2003), pp. 33-45. Preprint
However, this suggestion does not appear to be supported by the observed colours. The moon appears grey in the visible lightTommy 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
, similar to Setebos but different from Sycorax (which is light red).

Related pages
 List of Uranus' moons

 References 

Ephemeris IAU-NSES
Mean orbital parameters NASA JPL

 Other websites 
 Prospero Profile  by NASA's Solar System Exploration
 David Jewiit pages
 Scott Sheppard pages

Category:Uranus' moons