Sycorax (moon)

Sycorax is one of Uranus' moons. It is the biggest retrograde non-spherical one of its moons.

Sycorax was found on September 6, 1997 by Brett J. Gladman, Philip D. Nicholson, Joseph A. Burns, and John J. Kavelaars. They found it using the 200-inch Hale telescope. They also found Caliban. Sycorax was given the designation S/1997 U 2.GLADMAN, NICHOLSON, BURNS, KAVELAARS, MARSDEN, WILLIAMS & OFFUTT
Discovery of two distant irregular moons of Uranus, Nature, 392 (1998), pp. 897 - 899

Sycorax was confirmed as Uranus XVII. It was named after Sycorax, Caliban's mother in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

 Orbit 
Sycorax follows a far orbit, more than 20 times farther from Uranus than the farthest regular moon Oberon. Its orbit is retrograde, moderately inclined and eccentric.

The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong, together with Setebos and Prospero, 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

The diagram illustrates the orbital parameters of the retrograde non-spherical moons of Uranus (in polar co-ordinates) with the eccentricity of the orbits represented by the segments extending from the pericentre to the apocentre.

 Physical characteristics 
The diameter of Sycorax is estimated at 150 km (assuming albedo of 0.04) making it the biggest non-spherical moon of Uranus, comparable in size with Himalia, the biggest non-spherical moon of Jupiter.

The rotation period could not be estimated well (best fit ~4 h).

Related pages
 List of Uranus' moons

 References 

Ephemeris IAU-NSES
Mean orbital parameters NASA JPL

 Other websites 
 Sycorax Profile  by NASA's Solar System Exploration
 David Jewitt pages
 Scott Sheppard pages

Category:Uranus' moons