Astronomy: Moons of Uranus

The satellites (moons) of Uranus are all named after Shakespeare characters – except for the two or three (see below) that are named after characters from Pope's The Rape of the Lock.

The first two, discovered by the German–born British astronomer William Herschel in 1787 – just six years after he discovered Uranus itself – were named after characters from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Titania and Oberon). The next two, discovered in 1851 by the English amateur astronomer William Lassell, were named after characters in The Rape of the Lock (Ariel and Umbriel) – except that Ariel also appears in The Tempest.  The fifth was discovered in 1948 by the Dutch–American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper, and named after another character from The Tempest (Miranda).

Only these five were known until the visit of the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986.  Voyager sent back news of ten more moons, and these were named after various Shakespeare characters – except Belinda, which (somewhat perversely) was named after the wronged heroine of The Rape of the Lock.  The next five (discovered in the late 1990s) were all named after characters from The Tempest.

This custom of naming Uranus' moons after Shakespeare (and Pope) characters makes them perfect for quiz questions.  For example: "Which moon of Uranus, discovered in 1986 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, is named after a character in Shakespeare's Hamlet?"

See below for the answer.

This page lists the 20 that were known in 2001.  They are listed in order of orbit, starting with the closest to the planet.

The last time I checked (July 2015) Uranus had 27 known moons. But I don't think there's much point in listing any more – in reality, the only ones you're likely to get asked about in quizzes are the five largest ones (the ones that were known before 1986).

Radius (km)	Discovered	Character appears in	Description of character		Name
The following were discovered in 1986 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft:
13	1986	King Lear	Daughter to Lear		Cordelia
15	1986	Hamlet	Daughter to Polonius		Ophelia
21	1986	Othello	Mistress to Cassio		Bianca
33	1986	Troilus and Cressida	Daughter to Calchas (a Trojan priest)		Cressida
27	1986	Othello	Daughter to Brabantio, and wife to Othello		Desdemona
42	1986	Romeo and Juliet (Measure for Measure)	Daughter to Capulet (Beloved of Claudio)		Juliet
54	1986	The Merchant of Venice (Julius Caesar)	A rich heiress (Wife to Brutus)		Portia
27	1986	As you like it	Daughter to the (unnamed) banished duke		Rosalind
33	1986	The Rape of the Lock	The wronged heroine		Belinda
77	1986	A Midsummer Night’s Dream	or Robin Goodfellow		Puck
The following were discovered before 1986 (from Earth) and are the five largest:
233–241	1948	The Tempest	Daughter of Prospero		Miranda
577–581	1851	The Tempest The Rape of the Lock	An airy spirit The leader of the sylphs		Ariel
585	1851	The Rape of the Lock	A "dusky melancholy sprite"		Umbriel
789	1787	A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Queen of the Fairies		Titania
761	1787	A Midsummer Night’s Dream	King of the Fairies		Oberon
The following have been discovered since 1986:
~40	1997	The Tempest	A savage and deformed slave		Caliban
	1997	The Tempest	A witch, and mother of Caliban		Sycorax
	1999	The Tempest	Character who enslaves Ariel		Setebos
	1999	The Tempest	Ship’s butler		Stephano
	1999	The Tempest	The right Duke of Milan		Prospero

© Haydn Thompson 2017