Perdita_(moon)

Perdita (moon)

Perdita (moon)

Moon of Uranus

Perdita /ˈpɜːrdətə/ is an inner satellite of Uranus. Perdita's discovery was very complicated, as the first photographs of Perdita were taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, but it was not recognized from the photographs for more than a decade. In 1999, the moon was noticed by Erich Karkoschka and reported.[3][8] But because no further pictures could be taken to confirm its existence, it was officially demoted in 2001.[9] However, in 2003, pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope managed to pick up an object where Perdita was supposed to be, finally confirming its existence.[7][10]

Quick Facts Discovery, Discovered by ...

Following its discovery in 1999, it was given the temporary designation of S/1986 U 10.[8] It was named Perdita (Latin for 'lost') after the daughter of Leontes and Hermione in William Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. The moon is also designated Uranus XXV.[11]

Discovery image of Perdita taken by Voyager 2 on 23 January 1986. The location of the moon is indicated by the arrow on the upper right.

The moon orbits between Belinda and Puck. The above-mentioned Hubble measurements prove that Perdita does not follow a direct Keplerian motion around Uranus. Instead, it is clearly caught in a 43:44 orbital resonance with the nearby moon Belinda, and from this resonance it has been determined that Belinda's mass is 26 times that of Perdita.[12] It is also close to an 8:7 resonance with Rosalind.[3][7]

Perdita belongs to the Portia group of satellites, which also includes Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Portia, Juliet, Cupid, Rosalind and Belinda.[13] These satellites have similar orbits and photometric properties.[13] Little is known about Perdita apart from its orbit,[3][7] radius of 13.3 km[4] and geometric albedo of 0.08.[13][7]

See also

Notes

  1. Calculated on the basis of other parameters.

References

Citations

  1. [1]
    Benjamin Smith (1903). The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia.
  2. [2]
    Byrne (2008). Perdita: the literary, theatrical, scandalous life of Mary Robinson.
  3. [3]
    Karkoschka, Voyager 2001.
  4. [4]
    Showalter & Lissauer (2006),[7] as cited in Ćuk et al. (2022).[6]
  5. [5]
    French & Showalter 2012.
  6. [6]
    Ćuk et al. 2022.
  7. [7]
    Showalter & Lissauer 2006.
  8. [8]
    IAUC 7171.
  9. [9]
    Foust 2001.
  10. [10]
    IAUC 8194.
  11. [11]
    USGS: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers.
  12. [12]
    French, Robert S.; Showalter, Mark R.; de Pater, Imke; Lissauer, Jack J. (2017-10-01). Orbital and Photometric Analysis of the Inner Uranian Satellites from Hubble Images. Vol. 49. p. 214.19.
  13. [13]
    Karkoschka, Hubble 2001.

Sources
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