Uranus' Moons are Named after Characters from Shakespeare Uranus’ Moons & Shakespeare Uranus’ moons are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. To date 27 moons have been discovered around Uranus, those named after characters from Shakespeare include Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Ariel (The Tempest), Miranda (The Tempest) and Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Titania and Oberon were discovered in 1787 by William Herschel, Ariel in 1851 by William Lassell, Miranda in 1948 by Gerard Kuiper and Puck was discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1985. Shakespeare's Moons, the moons of Uranus - Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System Welcome to Uranus The Tilted Planet Discovery of Uranus Shakespeare's Moons Miranda, a moon of Uranus Facts about Uranus Thousands of years ago, when the Romans and Greeks were naming the planets that were visible to them, they decided to name them after their gods.

Mercury (Greek: Hermes) was the Roman god of commerce, travel and industry, Venus (Greek: Aphrodite) was the goddess of love and beauty, Mars (Greek: Ares) was the god of war, Jupiter (Greek: Zeus) was the king of the gods, and Saturn (Greek: Cronos) was the god of agriculture. Hundreds of years later, even when people knew that the planets weren't actually gods, they still kept with tradition and named newly discovered planets after mythological characters. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were all discovered in modern times, but their names are all still linked to ancient myths. Uranus is the Greek ruler of the heavens, Neptune (Greek: Poseidon) is the Roman god of the sea, and Pluto (Greek: Hades) is god of the underworld. The names of moons orbiting planets are also influenced by mythology. This is all except for one planet. The moons orbiting Uranus are named after characters in plays, mostly after characters in plays written by William Shakespeare. Why would you name moons after characters in a play though? Before I answer that, here's my quick guide to Shakespeare. One of the greatest ever writers of the English language was William Shakespeare.

He was born on 23rd April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England and during his life, wrote about 154 poems (called sonnets) and 38 plays. From 1588, he lived in London where many of his plays were performed in front of the courts of the Royal Family. Although his plays are now over 400 years old, they are still performed and studied today, containing themes and ideas which are as relevant now as they were when they were first written. The Globe Theatre in London was opened in 2000 and is a modern day replica of the type of theatre in which Shakespeare's plays would have originally been performed. Some of Shakespeare's most famous plays are Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespeare died on 23rd April 1616 and is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon church. Although Shakespeare wrote a large number of plays, these plays can be placed into four categories: Comedies, Histories, Tragedies and Romances.

The Comedies were often farcical comedies of error, kind of like Fawlty Towers for the 16th Century (e.g. A Midsummer Night's Dream) . The Histories were based on real historical events, usually about English history (Henry IV, Part 1) or ancient history. Tragedies were plays with darker themes (such as betrayal and jealousy) and by the end of the play, most of the characters had died! (Romeo and Juliet, King Lear). The Romances were a bit lighter in theme and featured elements of fantasy and magic (A Winter's Tale, The Tempest). William Shakespeare is a hugely influential figure in English literature today. Students still analyse and discuss his works, and tourists from all over the world visit Stratford-upon-Avon to visit Shakespeare's house (pictured right). His importance inspired William Herschel in 1787 to name some of the moons known to be orbiting Uranus after characters in Shakespeare's plays. In 1781, Uranus became the first planet to be " discovered ".

The other planets that were known of at the time ( Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter and Saturn ) plus the Sun and the Moon had been observed for tens of thousands of years from Earth and already had names, named by the Greeks and Romans after their gods. Before 1781, nobody knew that Uranus existed and people thought there were only six planets in the Solar System. Although Uranus had already been spotted numerous times, it was English astronomer William Herschel who first recognised that Uranus was actually a planet and not a star . Because the planet was discovered by an English astronomer , not an ancient Roman or Greek, it was very nearly named Georgian Sidus ("George's Star"), in honour of England's ruler at the time, King George the Third. Unsurprisingly, the scientific community didn't really like this name, wanting the new planet to keep the tradition of being named after Roman or Greek gods. So the seventh planet in the Solar System became known as Uranus, a name suggested by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode. In 1787, a few years after discovering Uranus, William Herschel discovered two large moons orbiting the planet.

Wanting to honour his British background once more, Herschel decided this time to honour the greatest playwright in English history by naming the two moons after characters in one of his plays. The moons were named Titania and Oberon after the King and Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Again, some people (such as the German ambassador) kicked up a fuss, wanting the moons to be named after classical figures, but the names chosen by Herschel remained and the tradition of naming moons of Uranus after literary characters began. In 1851, William Lassell discovered two more large moons orbiting Uranus. These were named Ariel and Umbriel. Ariel and Umbriel are characters in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock, names chosen by Willian Herschel's son, John. These are the only two moons orbiting Uranus named after characters in non-Shakespearean plays, although one of the main characters in The Tempest by Shakespeare is also named Ariel. The next moon to be discovered was in 1948 by American astronomer Gerard Kuiper. This moon was named Miranda, another character from The Tempest.

It wasn't until Voyager visited Uranus in 1986 that any more moons were discovered. All of these moons, and all moons discovered since then have been named after characters in Shakespeare's plays. Even moons yet to be discovered will be named after Shakespeare's characters. He may have knew his plays were pretty good back when he was writing them, but even Shakespeare wouldn't have imagined that his characters would one day become immortalised in worlds millions and millions of miles away from his home in Stratford! Here is a list of all of the moons of Uranus, their size and location, the date they were discovered and where their names originate. Name How the Planets and Satellites Got Their Names How the Planets and Satellites Got Their Names Source: The U.S. Geological Survey MERCURY Named for the winged Roman god of travel because it appears to move so swiftly. VENUS Roman name for the goddess of love. This planet was considered to be the brightest and most beautiful planet or star in the heavens.

EARTH The name Earth comes from the Indo-European base 'er,' which produced the Germanic noun 'ertho,' and ultimately German 'erde,' Dutch 'aarde,' Danish and Swedish 'jord,' and English 'earth.' Related forms include Greek 'eraze,' meaning 'on the ground,' and Welsh 'erw,' meaning 'field.' THE MOON: Every civilization has had a name for the satellite of Earth that is known, in English, as the Moon. The name is of Anglo-Saxon derivation. MARS Named by the Romans for their god of war because of its red, bloodlike color. Other civilizations also named this planet from this attribute; for example, the Egyptians named it “Her Desher,” meaning “the red one.” SATELLITES: Phobos (named for one of the horses that drew Mars' chariot); Deimos (named for one of Mars' companions). JUPITER The largest and most massive of the planets was named Zeus by the Greeks and Jupiter by the Romans; he was the most important deity in both pantheons. Jupiter's satellites are named after mythological characters who have some relationship to Zeus.

SATELLITES: Metis (first wife of Zeus); Adrastea (a nymph of Crete to whose care Zeus's mother entrusted the infant Zeus); Amalthea (a goat in some accounts, a princess of Crete in others, she suckled Zeus as a young child); Thebe (a nymph abducted by Zeus); Io (she was changed by Zeus into a cow to protect her from his jealous wife); Europa (she was seduced by Jupiter); Ganymede (beautiful young boy who became the cupbearer of the Olympian gods); Callisto (she was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a bear to protect her from his wife's jealousy); Leda (seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan); Himalia (nymph who bore three sons of Zeus); Lysithia (one of Zeus' many lovers); Elara (a paramour of Zeus); Ananke (daughter of Zeus and Adrastea, goddess of fate and necessity); Carme (mother, by Zeus, of Britomartis); Pasiphaë (wife of Minos, mother of the Minotaur); Sinope (daughter of the river god Asopus and Merope).

Other recently discovered and named satellites of Jupiter are: Themisto, Euporie, Orthosie, Euanthe, Thyone, Harpalyke, Hermippe, Praxidike, Iocaste, Passithee, Chaldene, Kale, Isonoe, Aitne, Erinome, Taygete, Kalyke, Eurydome, Autonoe, Sponde, Megaclite, and Callirrhoe. There are still 24 more Jovian satellites to be named. SATURN Saturn was the Roman name for the Greek Cronos, god of farming and the father of Zeus/Jupiter. Some of its satellites were named for Titans who, according to Greek mythology, were brothers and sisters of Saturn. The newest satellites were named for Gallic (Gaul, or ancient France), Norse, and Inuit (Eskimo) giants.

SATELLITES: Pan (the half-human, half-goat god of pastoralism); Atlas (a Titan who held the heavens on his shoulders); Prometheus (a Titan who gave many gifts to humanity, including fire); Pandora (a woman who opened the box that loosed a host of plagues upon humanity); Janus (a two-faced Roman god who could look forward and backward at the same time); Epimetheus (a Greek backward-looking god); Mimas (a Titan felled by Hephaestus); Enceladus (a Titan killed by Athene); Tethys (the wife of Oceanus and mother of all rivers); Telesto (a water nymph); Calypso (a daughter of Atlas and paramour of Odysseus); Dione (a sister of Cronos); Helene (a daughter of Zeus); Rhea (a daughter of Cronos); Titan; Hyperion (a Titan); Iapetus (a Titan); Phoebe (another name for Artemis, goddess of the moon).

Satellites discovered in 2000 are: Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Paaliaq, Skadi, Albiorix, Erriapo, Siarnaq, Tarvos, Mundilfari, Suttung, Thrym, and Ymir. One more satellite, discovered in 2003, is yet to be named. URANUS Uranus was named for the Greek god of the sky. The astronmer William Lassell, who discovered two of Uranus' satellites in 1851, started the tradition of naming all of the planet's satellites for characters in the work of William Shakepseare and Alexander Pope.

SATELLITES: Cordelia (daughter of Lear in Shakespeare's “King Lear”); Ophelia (daughter of Polonius, fiance of Hamlet in Shakespeare's “Hamlet”); Bianca (daughter of Baptista, sister of Kate in Shakespeare's “Taming of the Shrew”); Cressida (title character in Shakespeare's “Troilus and Cressida”); Desdemona (wife of Othello in Shakespeare's “Othello”); Juliet (heroine of Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet”); Portia (rich heiress in Shakespeare's “Merchant of Venice”); Rosalind (daughter of the banished duke in Shakespeare's “As You Like It”); Belinda (character in Pope's “Rape of the Lock”); Puck (mischievous spirit in Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”); Miranda (the heroine of Shakespeare's “The Tempest”); Ariel (a benevolent spirit in Shakespeare's “The Tempest”); Umbriel (a malevolent spirit in Pope's“ Rape of the Lock”); Titania (the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”); Oberon (the king

 of the fairies in “A Midsummer Night's Dream”); Caliban (the brutish slave in Shakespeare's “The Tempest”); Sycorax (Caliban's mother in “The Tempest”); Prospero (the rightful Duke of Milan in “The Tempest”); Setebos (a false god worshiped by Caliban in “The Tempest”); Stephano (a drunken butler in “The Tempest”); Trinculo (a jester in “The Tempest”).

NEPTUNE Neptune, a blue planet, was named for the Roman god of the sea. SATELLITES: Naiad (a group of Greek water nymphs who were guardians of lakes, fountains, springs and rivers); Thalassa (Greek sea goddess); Despina (daughter of Neptune); Galatea (one of the attendants of Neptune); Larissa (a lover of Neptune); Proteus (a Greek sea god); Triton (the sea-god son of Poseidon/Neptune); Nereid (the Nereids, a group of fifty daughters, were attendants of Neptune). Five other recently discovered satellites are still unnamed. PLUTO News Flash (August 24, 2006)— Pluto Demoted! Read About It Here . Pluto, the outermost planet in our solar system, was named after Roman god of the underworld, who was able to render himself invisible. SATELLITE: Charon (the mythological boatman who ferried souls across the river Styx to Pluto for judgement). How the Planets and Satellites Got Their Names How the Planets and Satellites Got Their Names Source: The U.S.

Geological Survey MERCURY Named for the winged Roman god of travel because it appears to move so swiftly. VENUS Roman name for the goddess of love. This planet was considered to be the brightest and most beautiful planet or star in the heavens. EARTH The name Earth comes from the Indo-European base 'er,' which produced the Germanic noun 'ertho,' and ultimately German 'erde,' Dutch 'aarde,' Danish and Swedish 'jord,' and English 'earth.' Related forms include Greek 'eraze,' meaning 'on the ground,' and Welsh 'erw,' meaning 'field.' THE MOON: Every civilization has had a name for the satellite of Earth that is known, in English, as the Moon. The name is of Anglo-Saxon derivation. MARS Named by the Romans for their god of war because of its red, bloodlike color. Other civilizations also named this planet from this attribute; for example, the Egyptians named it “Her Desher,” meaning “the red one.” SATELLITES: Phobos (named for one of the horses that drew Mars' chariot); Deimos (named for one of Mars' companions).

JUPITER The largest and most massive of the planets was named Zeus by the Greeks and Jupiter by the Romans; he was the most important deity in both pantheons. Jupiter's satellites are named after mythological characters who have some relationship to Zeus.

SATELLITES: Metis (first wife of Zeus); Adrastea (a nymph of Crete to whose care Zeus's mother entrusted the infant Zeus); Amalthea (a goat in some accounts, a princess of Crete in others, she suckled Zeus as a young child); Thebe (a nymph abducted by Zeus); Io (she was changed by Zeus into a cow to protect her from his jealous wife); Europa (she was seduced by Jupiter); Ganymede (beautiful young boy who became the cupbearer of the Olympian gods); Callisto (she was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a bear to protect her from his wife's jealousy); Leda (seduced by Zeus in the form of a swan); Himalia (nymph who bore three sons of Zeus); Lysithia (one of Zeus' many lovers); Elara (a paramour of Zeus); Ananke (daughter of Zeus and Adrastea, goddess of fate and necessity); Carme (mother, by Zeus, of Britomartis); Pasiphaë (wife of Minos, mother of the Minotaur); Sinope (daughter of the river god Asopus and Merope).

Other recently discovered and named satellites of Jupiter are: Themisto, Euporie, Orthosie, Euanthe, Thyone, Harpalyke, Hermippe, Praxidike, Iocaste, Passithee, Chaldene, Kale, Isonoe, Aitne, Erinome, Taygete, Kalyke, Eurydome, Autonoe, Sponde, Megaclite, and Callirrhoe. There are still 24 more Jovian satellites to be named. SATURN Saturn was the Roman name for the Greek Cronos, god of farming and the father of Zeus/Jupiter. Some of its satellites were named for Titans who, according to Greek mythology, were brothers and sisters of Saturn. The newest satellites were named for Gallic (Gaul, or ancient France), Norse, and Inuit (Eskimo) giants.

SATELLITES: Pan (the half-human, half-goat god of pastoralism); Atlas (a Titan who held the heavens on his shoulders); Prometheus (a Titan who gave many gifts to humanity, including fire); Pandora (a woman who opened the box that loosed a host of plagues upon humanity); Janus (a two-faced Roman god who could look forward and backward at the same time); Epimetheus (a Greek backward-looking god); Mimas (a Titan felled by Hephaestus); Enceladus (a Titan killed by Athene); Tethys (the wife of Oceanus and mother of all rivers); Telesto (a water nymph); Calypso (a daughter of Atlas and paramour of Odysseus); Dione (a sister of Cronos); Helene (a daughter of Zeus); Rhea (a daughter of Cronos); Titan; Hyperion (a Titan); Iapetus (a Titan); Phoebe (another name for Artemis, goddess of the moon).

Satellites discovered in 2000 are: Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Paaliaq, Skadi, Albiorix, Erriapo, Siarnaq, Tarvos, Mundilfari, Suttung, Thrym, and Ymir. One more satellite, discovered in 2003, is yet to be named. URANUS Uranus was named for the Greek god of the sky. The astronmer William Lassell, who discovered two of Uranus' satellites in 1851, started the tradition of naming all of the planet's satellites for characters in the work of William Shakepseare and Alexander Pope.

SATELLITES: Cordelia (daughter of Lear in Shakespeare's “King Lear”); Ophelia (daughter of Polonius, fiance of Hamlet in Shakespeare's “Hamlet”); Bianca (daughter of Baptista, sister of Kate in Shakespeare's “Taming of the Shrew”); Cressida (title character in Shakespeare's “Troilus and Cressida”); Desdemona (wife of Othello in Shakespeare's “Othello”); Juliet (heroine of Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet”); Portia (rich heiress in Shakespeare's “Merchant of Venice”); Rosalind (daughter of the banished duke in Shakespeare's “As You Like It”); Belinda (character in Pope's “Rape of the Lock”); Puck (mischievous spirit in Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”); Miranda (the heroine of Shakespeare's “The Tempest”); Ariel (a benevolent spirit in Shakespeare's “The Tempest”); Umbriel (a malevolent spirit in Pope's“ Rape of the Lock”); Titania (the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”); Oberon (the king

 of the fairies in “A Midsummer Night's Dream”); Caliban (the brutish slave in Shakespeare's “The Tempest”); Sycorax (Caliban's mother in “The Tempest”); Prospero (the rightful Duke of Milan in “The Tempest”); Setebos (a false god worshiped by Caliban in “The Tempest”); Stephano (a drunken butler in “The Tempest”); Trinculo (a jester in “The Tempest”).

NEPTUNE Neptune, a blue planet, was named for the Roman god of the sea. SATELLITES: Naiad (a group of Greek water nymphs who were guardians of lakes, fountains, springs and rivers); Thalassa (Greek sea goddess); Despina (daughter of Neptune); Galatea (one of the attendants of Neptune); Larissa (a lover of Neptune); Proteus (a Greek sea god); Triton (the sea-god son of Poseidon/Neptune); Nereid (the Nereids, a group of fifty daughters, were attendants of Neptune). Five other recently discovered satellites are still unnamed. PLUTO News Flash (August 24, 2006)— Pluto Demoted! Read About It Here . Pluto, the outermost planet in our solar system, was named after Roman god of the underworld, who was able to render himself invisible. SATELLITE: Charon (the mythological boatman who ferried souls across the river Styx to Pluto for judgement). 1000+ images about Planet Uranus on Pinterest | Largest planet, Solar system and Ice giant Uranus in infrared light, captured by Hawaii's Keck Observatory.

The moon Miranda is to the upper left of Uranus, and the moon Puck is a faint smudge to the upper right. The bright splotches on Uranus' disk are clouds. See More Physical characteristics of Jupiter | Article about Physical characteristics of Jupiter by The Free Dictionary Physical characteristics of Jupiter | Article about Physical characteristics of Jupiter by The Free Dictionary (jo͞o`pətər), in astronomy, 5th planet from the sun and largest planet of the solar system. Astronomical and Physical Characteristics Jupiter's orbit lies beyond the asteroid asteroid, planetoid, or minor planet, small body orbiting the sun. More than 300,000 asteroids have been identified and cataloged; more than a million are believed to exist in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, with many more in the Kuiper belt ..... Click the link for more information. belt at a mean distance of 483.6 million mi (778.3 million km) from the sun; its period of revolution is 11.86 years. In order from the sun it is the first of the Jovian planets—Jupiter, Saturn Saturn, in astronomy, 6th planet from the sun.

Astronomical and Physical Characteristics of Saturn Saturn's orbit lies between those of Jupiter and Uranus; its mean distance from the sun is c.886 million mi (1. ..... Click the link for more information. , Uranus Uranus , in astronomy, 7th planet from the sun, at a mean distance of 1.78 billion mi (2.87 billion km), with an orbit lying between those of Saturn and Neptune; its period of revolution is slightly more than 84 years. ..... Click the link for more information. , and Neptune Neptune, in astronomy, 8th planet from the sun at a mean distance of about 2.8 billion mi (4.5 billion km) with an orbit lying between those of Uranus and the dwarf planet Pluto; its period of revolution is about 165 years. ..... Click the link for more information. —very large, massive planets of relatively low density, having rapid rotation and a thick, opaque atmosphere. Jupiter has a diameter of 88,815 mi (142,984 km), more than 11 times that of the earth.

Its mass is 318 times that of the earth and about 2 1-2 times the mass of all other planets combined. The atmosphere of Jupiter is composed mainly of hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia. However, the concentration of nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, argon, xenon, and krypton—as measured by an instrument package dropped by the space probe Galileo during its 1995 flyby of the planet—is more than twice what was expected, raising questions about the accepted theory of Jupiter's formation. The atmosphere appears to be divided into a number of light and dark bands parallel to its equator and shows a range of complex features, including a storm called the Great Red Spot. Located in the southern hemisphere and varying from c.15,600 to 25,000 mi (25,000 to 40,000 km) in one direction and 7,500 to 10,000 mi (12,000 to 16,000 km) in the other, the storm rotates counterclockwise and has been observed ever since 1664, when Robert Hooke first noted it.

Also in the southern hemisphere is the Little Red Spot, c.8,000 mi (13,000 km) across. It formed from three white-colored storms that developed in the 1940s, merged in 1998–2000, and became clearly red by 2006. Analysis of the data obtained when massive pieces of the comet Shoemaker Levy 9 plunged into Jupiter in 1994 has extended our knowledge of the Jovian atmosphere. Jupiter has no solid rock surface. One theory pictures a gradual transition from the outer ammonia clouds to a thick layer of frozen gases and finally to a liquid or solid hydrogen mantle. Beneath that Jupiter probably has a core of rocky material with a mass 10–15 times that of the earth. The spot and other markings of the atmosphere also provide evidence for Jupiter's rapid rotation, which has a period of about 9 hr 55 min. This rotation causes a polar flattening of over 6%.

The temperature ranges from about −190&degF; (−124&degC;) for the visible surface of the atmosphere, to 9&degF; (−13&degC;) at lower cloud levels; localized regions reach as high as 40&degF; (4&degC;) at still lower cloud levels near the equator. Jupiter radiates about four times as much heat energy as it receives from the sun, suggesting an internal heat source. This energy is thought to be due in part to a slow contraction of the planet. Jupiter is also characterized by intense nonthermal radio emission; in the 15-m range it is the strongest radio source in the sky. Jupiter has a huge asymetrical magnetic field, extending past the orbit of Saturn in one direction but far less in the direction of the sun. This magnetosphere traps high levels of energetic particles far more intense than those found within earth's Van Allen radiation belts Van Allen radiation belts, belts of radiation outside the earth's atmosphere, extending from c.400 to c.40,000 mi (c.650–c.65,000 km) above the earth.

The existence of two belts, sometimes considered as a single belt of varying intensity, was confirmed from information ..... Click the link for more information. . Nine space probes space probe, space vehicle carrying sophisticated instrumentation but no crew, designed to explore various aspects of the solar system (see space exploration). Unlike an artificial satellite, which is placed in more or less permanent orbit around the earth, a space probe is ..... Click the link for more information. have encountered the Jovian system: Pioneers 10 and 11 (1973 and 1974), Voyagers 1 and 2 (both 1979), Ulysses (1992, 2004), Galileo (1995–2003), Cassini (2000), New Horizons (2007), and Juno (2016–). Its Moons and Rings At least 63 natural satellites orbit Jupiter. They are conveniently divided into six main groups (in order of increasing distance from the planet): Amalthea, Galilean, Himalia, Ananke, Carme, and Pasiphae.

The first group is comprised of the four innermost satellites—Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, and Thebe. The red color of Amalthea (diameter: 117 mi/189 km), a small, elongated satellite discovered (1892) by Edward Barnard Barnard, Edward Emerson, 1857–1923, American astronomer, b. Nashville, Tenn., grad. Vanderbilt Univ., 1887. From 1887 to 1895 he was astronomer at Lick Observatory in California, and from 1895 he was professor of practical astronomy at the Univ. ..... Click the link for more information. , probably results from a coating of sulfur particles ejected from Io. Metis (diameter: 25 mi/40 km), Adrastea (diameter: 12 mi/20 km), and Thebe (diameter: 62 mi/100 km) are all oddly shaped and were discovered in 1979 in photographs returned to earth by the Voyager 1 space probe.

Metis and Adrastea orbit close to Jupiter's thin ring system; material ejected from these moons helps maintain the ring. The four largest satellites—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—were discovered by Galileo in 1610, shortly after he invented the telescope, and are known as the Galilean satellite group. Io (diameter: 2,255 mi/3,630 km), the closest to Jupiter of the four, is the most active geologically, with 30 active volcanoes that are probably energized by the tidal effects of Jupiter's enormous mass. Europa (diameter: 1,960 mi/3,130 km) is a white, highly reflecting body whose smooth surface is covered with dark streaks up to 43 mi/70 km in width and from several hundred to several thousand miles in length. Ganymede (diameter: 3,268 mi/5,262 km), second most distant of the four and the largest satellite in the solar system, has heavily cratered regions, tens of miles across, that are surrounded by younger, grooved terrain.

Callisto (diameter: 3,000 mi/4,806 km), the most distant and the least active geologically of the four, has a heavily cratered surface. Themisto (diameter: 5 mi/8 km) orbits Jupiter midway between the Galilean and next main group of satellites, the Himalias. The Himalia group consists of five tightly clustered satellites with orbits outside that of Callisto—Leda (diameter: 6 mi/10 km), Himalia (diameter: 106 mi/170 km), Lysithea (diameter: 15 mi/24 km), Elara (diameter: 50 mi/80 km), and S/2000 J11 (diameter: 2.5 mi/4 km). These 14 inner satellites are regular, that is, their orbits are relatively circular, near equatorial, and prograde, i.e., moving in the same orbital direction as the planet.

Almost all of the remainder are irregular in that their orbits are large, elliptical, inclined to that of the planet, and usually retrograde, i.e., motion opposite to that of the planet's rotation. (Jupiter's irregular satellites are distinguished from the regular by the spelling of their names, which all end in the letter "e".) Situated between the Himalia and Ananke groups is Carpo (diameter: 2 mi/3 km), which like Thermisto doesn't seem to fit into any of the main groups.

The Ananke group comprises 17 satellites, which share similar orbits and range from 1.2 to 2.5 mi (2–4 km) in diameter except for two: S/2003 J12, Euporie, Orthosie, Euanthe, Thyone, Mneme, Harpalyke, Hermippe, Praxidike (diameter: 4.5 mi/7 km), Thelexinoe, Iocaste, Ananke (diameter: 12.5 mi/20 km), S/2003 J16, S/2003 J3, S/2003 J18, Helike, and S/2003 J15. Like the Ananke group, the Carme group is remarkably homogeneous.

It comprises 17 satellites, which share similar orbits and, except for one, range from 1.2 to 3 mi (2–5 km) in diameter: Arche, Pasithee, Chaldene, Kale, Isonoe, Aitne, Erinome, Taygete, Carme (diameter: 28 mi/46 km), Kalyke, Eukelade, Kallichore, S/2003 J17, S/2003 J10, S/2003 J9, S/2003 J5, and S/2003 J19.

The most distant of the groups from the planet is the Pasiphae, which comprises 14 widely dispersed satellites that, except for two, range from 1.2 to 4.5 mi (2–7 km) in diameter: S/2000 J12, Eurydome, Autonoe, Sponde, Pasiphae (diameter: 36 mi/58 km), Megaclite, Sinope (diameter: 23 mi/38 km), Hegemone, Aode, Callirrhoe, Cyllene, S/2000 J23, S/2000 J4, and S/2000 J14. The odd orbits of the irregular satellites indicate that they were captured after Jupiter's formation. Because they are small, irregularly shaped, and clustered into groups, it is believed that they originated as parts of a larger body that either shattered due to Jupiter's enormous gravity or broke apart in a collision with another body. Jupiter has three rings ring, in astronomy, relatively thin band of rocks and dust and ice particles that orbit around a planet in the planet's equatorial plane.

All four of the giant planets in the solar system—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune— have rings, although only those of Saturn ..... Click the link for more information. —Halo, Main, and Gossamer—similar to those of Saturn but much smaller and fainter. An intense radiation belt lies between the rings and Jupiter's uppermost atmospheric layers. Jupiter, in Roman religion and mythology, the supreme god, also called Jove. Originally a sky deity associated with rain and agriculture, he developed into the great father god, prime protector of the state, concerned, like the Greek Zeus Zeus , in Greek religion and mythology, son and successor of Kronos as supreme god. His mother, Rhea, immediately after his birth concealed him from Kronos, who, because he was fated to be overthrown by one of his children, ate all his offspring. ..... Click the link for more information. (with whom he is identified), with all aspects of life. At his temple on the Capitol, triumphant generals honored him with their spoils and magistrates paid homage to him with sacrifices. Jupiter was the son of Saturn Saturn, in Roman religion and mythology, god of harvests, later identified with the Greek Kronos.

Little is known of the origins of his cult. His reign was regarded as the Golden Age. He was the husband of Ops and the father of Jupiter, Juno, Ceres, Pluto, and Neptune. ..... Click the link for more information. and Ops Ops , in Roman religion, goddess of harvests. She was the wife of Saturn, by whom she bore Jupiter and Juno. At her festivals, the Opiconsivia and the Opalia, held in August and December, respectively, she was worshiped as a goddess of sowing and reaping and was associated with ..... Click the link for more information. and the brother and husband of Juno Juno, in Roman religion and mythology, wife and sister of Jupiter. In early Roman times she, like the Greek Hera (with whom she was later identified), was goddess and protector of women, concerned especially with their sexual life. ..... Click the link for more information. . Jupiter (joo -pă-ter) The largest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun at a mean distance of 5.2 AU once every 11.86 years.

It has an equatorial diameter of 142 994 km (11 times that of the Earth) and a polar diameter of 133 708 km. This oblateness results from a rotation period of less than 10 hours, shorter than that of any other planet. Jupiter has a mass more than twice that of all the other planets combined but its average density, only 1.3 times that of water, suggests that it contains a high proportion of the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. Orbital and physical characteristics are given in Table 1, backmatter. Oppositions recur at 13 month intervals; the planet then has, on average, an apparent diameter of 47 arc seconds and shines at about magnitude –2.5, brighter than every other night-time object apart from the Moon, Venus, and (rarely) Mars. Jupiter has 63 known satellites, including the four Galilean satellites visible with a minimum of optical aid, and also a ring system (see Jupiter's rings ). Telescopes show the disk to be crossed by bands of light and dark clouds, called zones and belts respectively, running parallel to the equator.

Irregular spots and streaks are seen, their motion across the disk indicating planetary rotation periods varying between about 9 hours 51 minutes in equatorial regions and 9 hours 56 minutes at high latitudes. Except for the Great Red Spot and the white ovals, most of the markings are temporary, lasting for days or months. Models for Jupiter's atmospheric and internal structure have been refined following the flybys of the spaceprobes Pioneer 10 and 11 in 1973 and 1974, the Voyager probes in 1979, and Ulysses in 1992, and the detailed investigation of the Jovian system made by the Galileo spacecraft between 1996 and 2003; earlier spectroscopic work had, however, detected the presence of hydrogen, ammonia, and methane, and also water vapor, ethane, acetylene, phosphine, germanium tetrahydride, and carbon monoxide. It appears that the white or yellowish zones are areas of higher clouds supported by upward convection of warm gases; the reddish-brown belts have descending gas flows and lower clouds.

With a rapidly rotating planet the weather systems are primarily zonal, and it is this that produces the banded colorful cloud systems superimposed with spots of a variety of different shades of colors; the spots are anticyclonically rotating systems. Huge convective storms are found in the equatorial region of Jupiter, and cyclonic storms, called barges, are seen in the northern latitudes. Eddies may give rise to the spots. At latitudes greater than about 45°, the belt/zone system gives way to a mottled surface appearance corresponding to ascending and descending convection cells (gas columns). The higher cloud zones appear to comprise ammonia crystals while the lower cloud belts may contain sulfur compounds, hydrogen and ammonium hydrosulfide, or complex organic compounds, possibly formed in photochemical reactions energized by ultraviolet radiation and by lightning discharges in the atmosphere. The highest cloud features, such as the Great Red Spot, may be colored red by traces of phosphorus brought up by convection from the lower atmosphere.

Jupiter radiates, as heat, about twice as much energy as it receives from the Sun, indicating that there is an internal reservoir of thermal energy left over from its creation 4.6 thousand million years ago. This internal energy source aids in driving Jupiter's weather system. In addition to the rapid rotation of Jupiter, the outflow of energy from the planet and a greenhouse effect ensure that there is little variation in temperature between the equator and poles, or between the day and night hemispheres. Atmospheric temperatures increase from -130°C at the cloud tops to about 30°C at the base of a lower cloud layer of water droplets and ice-crystals believed to lie about 70 km below the ammonia clouds. Over this same range the pressure rises from 0.5 to 4.5 (Earth) atmospheres. All Jupiter's weather occurs in this upper skin of its 1000-km deep gaseous atmosphere. At first sight the Jovian weather system appears quite different from that of the Earth.

The analyses of the Voyager data have shown, however, that Jupiter (and also Saturn) and the Earth drive their meteorological systems in the same way, with energy being transported from the small-scale features into the main flow. The depth of the motions are unknown. However, they appear more stable than the specific cloud elements whose lifetimes vary from months to years to decades. The atmosphere of Jupiter consists primarily of hydrogen and helium in the ratio 89.8 to 10.2 (by mass). The hydrogen becomes liquid at a depth of 1000 km; this marks the interface between atmosphere and planetary interior. At a depth of about 25 000 to 30 000 km, under an estimated two to three megabars of pressure, the hydrogen becomes metallic: the molecules dissociate into protons and a sea of unattached electrons. Temperatures may increase from 2000 K at 1000 km to some 20 000 K at the planet's center where there may be a rocky core 10 to 20 times more massive than the Earth.

The bulk of Jupiter's interior is thus composed of liquid hydrogen, most of which is in metallic form. A magnetic field, probably arising from a dynamo action within Jupiter's conductive metallic hydrogen, has a total strength about 19 000 times that of the Earth's magnetic field. Jupiter's field is tilted by 11° relative to its rotation axis and is reversed in polarity relative to that of the Earth. It supports a magnetosphere , about 15 million km across, in which the eight inner satellites orbit. The magnetosphere contains radiation belts possibly 10 000 times more intense than the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts . Jupiter emits radio waves by three mechanisms: high-frequency thermal radio noise comes from the atmosphere along with infrared radiation; high-frequency nonthermal synchrotron emission is generated by electrons in Jupiter's magnetic field; intense bursts of decametric radio waves are believed to arise from electrical discharges along Jovian magnetic field lines when Io , with its conductive ionosphere, moves across them. A small fraction of the sulfur and sulfur dioxide erupting from volcanoes on Io manages to escape Io's gravity and becomes part of Jupiter's magnetosphere.

High temperatures ionize the material giving rise to the Io torus , a huge doughnut-shaped ring of plasma. The Io torus lies in the plane of Jupiter's magnetic equator, inclined by 11° to the plane of Io's orbit. An engraving from the seventeenth century of Jupiter with his thunderbolt and eagle. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library. Jupiter (religion, spiritualism, and occult) Jupiter, the fifth planet from the Sun, is the largest body in the solar system, containing two-thirds the mass of the entire solar system outside the Sun. It is like a miniature planetary system all by itself. Since 2000, Jupiter is now known to have 28 moons of varying sizes. The four largest of them are easily visible with even a small telescope. Galileo discovered these larger moons in 1610. They are called Galilean satellites. Copernicus’s model of the heliocentric solar system was supported by the fact that these bodies were noticed to be orbiting another planet. Jupiter begins a grouping of planets that have a different composition from the four terrestrial planets. These are referred to as the Jovian planets because of their giant sizes.

(Jove was the chief Roman deity.) Jupiter’s gassy composition is a combination of 90 percent hydrogen and 10 percent helium. It has no solid surface at all. Jupiter rotates once every 10 hours. It orbits the Sun every 11.86 years. Its most distinguishing feature is the giant red spot. Observations from the 1979 Voyager mission identified the red spot as the vortex of a violent, long-lasting anticyclonic storm, similar to big storms on earth. Superbolts of giant-sized lightning and giant polar aurorae were also Voyager discoveries about Jupiter. Early Greek mythology called Jupiter Zeus, and the Romans called him Jove. Jupiter was the son of Saturn (Kronos.) Just as the Oracle of Delphi predicted to Saturn, Zeus was the son to dethrone him, as he had overpowered his own father, Ouranos. Zeus and his brothers drew lots for their share of the universe. Zeus, Lord of the Sky, became chief of the Gods. His power was greater than all the others combined. He was righteous and demanded right action from men, not sacrifices. Jupiter is associated with the idea of justice.

His low side made him out of control with his anger and his incalculable use of lightning bolts. He was never a faithful husband. He often acted like a storm cloud, building things up to turbulence. His high side can make things glorious. He gives hope and honors and bestows great gifts. Zeus was known for his great highs and lows. In Mesopotamian astrology, Jupiter was linked to Marduk, ruler of the gods. Marduk was associated with wisdom, justice, water, and vegetation. Jupiter, known as the Greater Benefic, is the planet of hope, possibilities, expansion, and plenty. It is the most diurnal planet, next to the Sun. Jupiter has beneficial qualities in a nocturnal chart, as well. Jupiter rules the fire triplicity at night. It rules the masculine fire sign, Sagittarius. It is adventurous and robust in a diurnal chart. Jupiter is also the traditional ruler of the feminine water sign, Pisces. It is exalted in Cancer. Jupiter’s affinity with water signs makes it more compassionate and generous. In a nocturnal chart, Jupiter is more subdued and moderate.

Jupiter is in its fall in Capricorn and its detriment in Virgo, both earth signs. This shows how unhappy Jupiter is when forced to conform and fit into rigid forms. Jupiter is a social planet. Its influence is open, expansive, and temperate. When in sect, it confirms and radifies what the Sun selects. When contrary to sect, it creates obstacles to stabilization because too much is included. In the hellenistic system, the star Jupiter is assigned the special essence of reputation and crowns of office and expectations. When Jupiter is dignified its influence is magnanimous, mild tempered, just, wise, and religious. When not dignified its influence can be scattered, over done, shallow, indifferent, and easily led astray. Its real character is good-natured, freedom loving, confident, and conscious of right and wrong, wanting to do what is best. Its optimistic outlook often brings good fortune and opportunity. There is ease to life that allows for luck and happiness.

Jupiter is traditionally associated with begetting children, desire, knowledge, friendships with great men, abundance, great gifts, freedom, trust, possessions, justice, reputation, preferments of priests, government, inheritances, benefaction, confirmation of good things, and deliverance from bad things. It represents officials, administrators, advisors, counselors, aristocrats, aristocracy, and foreign ministry. It rules law, courts, judges, lawyers, and the judicial system, as well as clergy, priests, ministers, and religious leaders. In business, Jupiter rules bankers, brokers, bondsmen, cashiers, clerks, magistrates, managers, merchants, stockbrokers, stocks, treasuries, trusts, and taxes. It is associated with celebrations, coronations, commemorations, grandeur, graduations, inaugurations, monuments, pageants, parades, regalia, rituals, salutes, and winning.

Jupiter gives affluence, amplification, applause, betterment, benevolence, bonuses, charity, chivalry, compensation, credentials, dignity, distinction, elite position, eminence, endowments, enhancement, extravagance, good fortune, gain, generosity, increases, endorsement, inheritance, integrity, joviality, luck, magnanimity, magnificence, opulence, philanthropy, prestige, pride, proclamation, promotion, protocol, protection, purity, recommendation, redemption, reputation, remuneration, restitution, reverence, self-esteem, sincerity, spirituality, splendor, success, superiority, temperance, title, tributes, verification, vindication, wealth, wisdom, worthiness, and worship. Classical diseases and health problems associated with Jupiter are abscesses, accumulations, arteries, assimilation of food, blood in general and blood pressure, boils, the formation of red blood cells, diabetes, diseases from excess, enlargements, fatty degeneration, glands, growths, hepatic system, liver, upper legs and thighs, obesity, pleurisy, and tumors.

Modern astrology links Jupiter with the level of intelligence that perceives the world around us and puts things into a context that creates our beliefs and our world-views. It develops the rational thinking processes that lead to conclusion and understanding, bringing opinion and wisdom. Jupiter is the storyteller and is responsible for the dissemination of information on a broad scale. It is influential and inspirational in its delivery of ideas. In modern times it is associated with advertising, sales, and propaganda. Jupiter relates to higher levels of thought: education, philosophy, psychology and religion. In Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet, Liz Greene identifies Jupiter as the planet symbolizing the myth-making principle: Jupiter is thus connected with the urge within the psyche to create symbols, and this takes us into profound depths when we consider the creative power that has shaped the great myths, legends, and religions of the world. It is no less a creative power that shapes the symbolism of our dreams, so that each dream is a masterpiece of meaning and could not be altered in any way for improvement. In this way Jupiter is truly a god of the gateway, for he forms a link between conscious and unconscious through the creation and intuitive understanding of symbols.

As we have seen, symbols are the primordial language of life; and Jupiter symbolizes the function which both creates them within man and intuits their meaning. In Jyotish astrology, Jupiter is associated with the elephant-headed god Ganesh, and the king of the gods, Indra. The myths call Jupiter either Guru, which means “teacher,” or Brhaspati, which means “lord of sacred speech.” Jupiter is the guru to the gods. In The Myths and Gods of India, Alain Danielou notes that Indra represents the power of the thunderbolt, the all-pervading electric energy, which is the nature of cosmic as well as animal life. He is the deity of the sphere of space, and the ruler of the storm. Indra embodies the qualities of all the gods, hence becoming the greatest. Ever young, Indra embodies all the virtues of youth: heroism, generosity, and exuberance. He stands for action and service but also for the need of force, which leads to power, to victory, and booty. He leads warriors and protects them with his thunderbolt and his bow, the rainbow. Indra loves intoxicants and pleasure.

As the embodiment of virility, Indra is represented in the bull, the perfect male. He has numerous love affairs, including the wives of sages. He is given many names. Today, Indra is not the object of direct veneration, but he receives incidental worship and there is a festival in his honor called the “Raising of the Standard of Indra.” —Norma Jean Ream Sources: Bills, Rex. The Rulership Book, A Directory of Astrological Correspondences. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., 1971. Crane, Joseph. A Practical Guide to Traditional Astrology. Orleans, MA: Archive for the Retrieval of Historical Astrological Texts, 1997. Danielou, Alain. The Myths and Gods of India. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1991. Greene, Liz. Relating: An Astrological Guide to Living with Others on a Small Planet. 2d ed. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1978. Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Boston: Little, Brown, 1942.

Pasachoff, Jay M. Contemporary Astronomy. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing, 1989. Schmidt, Robert, translator. Vettius Valens, Book I, Chapter I. Original Source Texts and Auxiliary Materials for the Study of Hellenistic Astrology and Project Hindsight, Phaser Foundation, 2002. Wilson, James. A Complete Dictionary of Astrology. London: W. Hughes, 1819.

Jupiter [′jü·pəd·ər] (astronomy) The largest planet in the solar system, and the fifth in order of distance from the sun; semimajor axis = 485 × 106 miles (780 × 106 kilometers); sidereal revolution period = 11.86 years; mean orbital velocity = 8.2 miles per second (13.2 kilometers per second); inclination of orbital plane to ecliptic = 1.03; equatorial diameter = 88,700 miles (142,700 kilometers); polar diameter = 82,800 miles (133,300 kilometers); mass = about 318.4 (earth = 1). Jupiter (in Roman tradition) the king and ruler of the Olympian gods Jupiter 2 the largest of the planets and the fifth from the sun. It has 16 satellites and is surrounded by a transient planar ring system consisting of dust particles.

Mean distance from sun: 778 million km; period of revolution around sun: 11.86 years; period of axial rotation: 9.83 hours; diameter and mass: 11.2 and 317.9 times that of earth respectively jupiter To kill an IRC robot or user and then take its place by adopting its nick so that it cannot reconnect. Named after a particular IRC user who did this to NickServ, the robot in charge of preventing people from inadvertently using a nick claimed by another user. Satellites | Britannica.com Satellites any natural satellite orbiting another body. Displaying Featured Satellites Articles Moon Earth ’s sole natural satellite and nearest large celestial body. Known since prehistoric times, it is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun. It is designated by the symbol ☽. Its name in English, like that of Earth, is of Germanic and Old English derivation. The Moon’s desolate beauty has been a source of fascination and curiosity throughout... Neil Armstrong U.S. astronaut, the first person to set foot on the Moon. Armstrong became a licensed pilot on his 16th birthday and a naval air cadet in 1947.

His studies in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., were interrupted in 1950 by his service in the Korean War, during which he was shot down once and was awarded three Air... Titan the largest moon of Saturn and the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds and a dense atmosphere. It is the only body other than Earth that is known to currently have liquid on its surface. It was discovered telescopically in 1655 by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens —the first planetary satellite to be discovered after the four Galilean... Buzz Aldrin American astronaut who was the second man to set foot on the Moon. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York (1951), Aldrin became an air force pilot. He flew 66 combat missions in Korea and later served in West Germany. In 1963 he wrote a dissertation on orbital mechanics to earn a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,... Europa the smallest and second nearest of the four large moons (Galilean satellites) discovered around Jupiter by the Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610.

It was probably also discovered independently that same year by the German astronomer Simon Marius, who named it after Europa of Greek mythology. Europa is a rocky object covered with an extremely smooth,... Ganymede largest of Jupiter ’s satellites and of all the satellites in the solar system. One of the Galilean moons, it was discovered by the Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610. It was probably also discovered independently that same year by the German astronomer Simon Marius, who named it after Ganymede of Greek mythology. Ganymede has a diameter of about 5,270... Io innermost of the four large moons (Galilean satellites) discovered around Jupiter by the Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610. It was probably also discovered independently that same year by the German astronomer Simon Marius, who named it after Io of Greek mythology. Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Io rotates at the same... Enceladus second nearest of the major regular moons of Saturn and the brightest of all its moons.

It was discovered in 1789 by the English astronomer William Herschel and named for one of the Giant s (Gigantes) of Greek mythology. Enceladus measures about 500 km (310 miles) in diameter and orbits Saturn in a prograde, nearly circular path at a mean distance... Phobos the inner and larger of Mars ’s two moons. It was discovered telescopically with its companion moon, Deimos, by the American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877 and named for one of the sons of Ares, the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Mars. Phobos is a small irregular rocky object with a crater-scarred, grooved surface. A roughly ellipsoidal body, Phobos... moon any natural satellite orbiting another body. In the solar system there are 173 moons orbiting the planets. Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have 1, 2, 67, 62, 27, and 14 moons, respectively. Other bodies in the solar system, such as dwarf planets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects, also have moons.

No moons have yet been discovered... Triton largest of Neptune ’s moons, whose unusual orbital characteristics suggest that it formed elsewhere in the solar system and was later captured by Neptune. It was discovered by the English astronomer William Lassell in October 1846, only a few weeks after the discovery of Neptune itself. Triton was named after a merman in Greek mythology who was the... Callisto outermost of the four large moons (Galilean satellites) discovered around Jupiter by the Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610. It was probably also discovered independently that same year by the German astronomer Simon Marius, who named it after Callisto of Greek mythology. Callisto is a dark, heavily cratered body of rock and ice that appears to have... Eugene Andrew Cernan American astronaut who, as commander of Apollo 17, was the last person to walk on the Moon. Cernan was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1956, became a test pilot, and earned his master’s degree in aeronautical engineering at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.

In 1963 he was named in the second group of astronauts. Cernan and... Charon largest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto. It was discovered telescopically on June 22, 1978, by James W. Christy and Robert S. Harrington at the U.S. Naval Observatory station in Flagstaff, Arizona. Its diameter—1,208 km (751 miles)—is a little more than half that of Pluto, and its mass is more than one-tenth of Pluto’s mass. Charon is so large and massive... Deimos the outer and smaller of Mars ’s two moons. It was discovered telescopically with its companion moon, Phobos, by the American astronomer Asaph Hall in 1877 and named for one of the sons of Ares, the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Mars. Deimos is an irregular rocky object having a cratered surface covered with a thick layer of fine debris. Roughly... Mimas smallest and innermost of the major regular moons of Saturn.

It was discovered in 1789 by the English astronomer William Herschel and named for one of the Giant s (Gigantes) of Greek mythology. Mimas measures about 400 km (250 miles) in diameter and revolves around the planet in a prograde, near-circular orbit at a mean distance of 185,520 km (115,277... Edgar Mitchell American astronaut who was a member, with Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Stuart A. Roosa, of the Apollo 14 mission (January 31–February 9, 1971), in which the uplands region north of the Fra Mauro crater on the Moon was explored by Mitchell and Shepard. Mitchell entered the U.S. Navy after earning a B.S. in industrial management (1952) from the... Iapetus outermost of Saturn ’s major regular moons, extraordinary because of its great contrast in surface brightness. It was discovered by the Italian-born French astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini in 1671 and named for one of the Titan s of Greek mythology.

Iapetus has a radius of 718 km (446 miles) and orbits Saturn once every 79.3 Earth days at a distance... Titania largest of the moons of Uranus. It was first detected telescopically in 1787 by the English astronomer William Herschel, who had discovered Uranus itself six years earlier. Titania was named by William’s son, John Herschel, for a character in William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Titania orbits at a mean distance of 435,840 km (270,820... Rhea major regular moon of Saturn and the planet’s second largest, after Titan. It was discovered in 1672 by the Italian-born French astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini and named for a Titan of Greek mythology. Rhea has a diameter of 1,528 km (949 miles) and revolves around Saturn in a prograde, nearly circular orbit at a mean distance of 527,040 km (327,490... James B.

Irwin American astronaut, pilot of the Lunar Module on the Apollo 15 mission (July 26–Aug. 7, 1971), in which he and the mission commander, David R. Scott, spent almost three days on the Moon ’s surface investigating the Hadley-Apennine site, 462 miles (744 km) north of the lunar equator. The two spent 18 hours outside the Lunar Module, traveled on the Moon’s... Oberon outermost of the five major moons of Uranus and the second largest of the group. Oberon was discovered in 1787 by the English astronomer William Herschel, who had found Uranus in 1781; it was named by William’s son, John Herschel, for a character in William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The mean distance of Oberon from the centre of... Tethys major regular moon of Saturn, remarkable for a fissure that wraps around the greater part of its circumference. It was discovered in 1684 by the Italian-born French astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini and named for a Titan in Greek mythology.

Tethys has a diameter of 1,066 km (662 miles), and its density of about 1.0 grams per cubic cm—the same as that... Alan Bean American astronaut and lunar module pilot on the Apollo 12 mission (Nov. 14–22, 1969), during which two long walks totaling nearly eight hours were made on the Moon ’s surface. Bean and commander Charles Conrad, Jr., piloted the lunar module Intrepid to a pinpoint landing near the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Surveyor 3, which had landed two years earlier,... Miranda innermost and smallest of the five major moons of Uranus and, topographically, the most varied of the group. It was discovered in telescopic photographs of the Uranian system in 1948 by the Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper, who named it after a character in William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. Miranda revolves around Uranus once every... Phoebe midsize irregular moon of Saturn, discovered by the American astronomer William Henry Pickering in 1899 on photographic plates and named for a Titan in Greek mythology.

Roughly spherical and about 210 km (130 miles) in diameter, Phoebe has a mean distance from Saturn of about 12,952,000 km (8,050,000 miles), which is several times farther than any... Dione fourth nearest of the major regular moons of Saturn. It was discovered by the Italian-born French astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini in 1684 and named for a daughter of the Titan Oceanus in Greek mythology. Dione has a diameter of 1,120 km (696 miles) and revolves around Saturn in a prograde, nearly circular orbit at a mean distance of 377,400 km (234,500... Hyperion major moon of Saturn, notable in that it has no regular rotation period but tumbles in an apparently random fashion in its orbit. Hyperion was discovered in 1848 by the American astronomers William Bond and George Bond and independently by the English astronomer William Lassell. It was named for one of the Titan s of Greek mythology. Hyperion orbits...

Roche limit in astronomy, the minimum distance to which a large satellite can approach its primary body without tidal forces overcoming the internal gravity holding the satellite together. If the satellite and the primary body are of similar composition, the theoretical limit is about 2 1 2 times the radius of the larger body. The rings of Saturn lie inside Saturn’s... libration in astronomy, an oscillation, apparent or real, of a satellite, such as the Moon, the surface of which may as a consequence be seen from different angles at different times from one point on its primary body. The latitudinal libration of the Moon occurs because its axis is tilted slightly, relative to the plane of its orbit around the Earth; this makes...

Question: The satellites of which planet are nearly all named after Shakespearean characters?
Answer: Uranus