Perdita (moon)

Perdita is a closer moon to Uranus. Perdita's discovery was not simple. The first pictures of Perdita were taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, but it was not seen on the photographs for more than ten years. In 1999, the moon was noticed and reported.

Because no further pictures could be taken to confirm its existence, in 2001 it was thought to be non-existent. However, in 2003, pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope managed to pick up an object where Perdita was supposed to be. This proved its existence at last.

After its discovery in 1999, Perdita was labelled S/1986 U 10. she was the daughter of Leontes and Hermione in William Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. The moon is also called Uranus XXV.

Perdita belongs to Portia Group of moons, which also includes Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Portia, Juliet, Cupid, Rosalind and Belinda. These moons have similar orbits and photometric properties. Unfortunately, other than its orbit, radius of  15 km, and geometric albedo of 0.08, almost nothing is known about it.

References

Other websites
Perdita Profile  by NASA's Solar System Exploration

Category:Uranus' moons