Also check out our activity worksheet at the end of the article which you can download or print. Uranus has a tilted axis and its thought that a collision with another large celestial object was the cause of it. Umbriel, along with its fellow moon ariel, was discovered by english astronomer william lassell on october 24th, 1851. Join us as we head into the universe to discover ten fascinating facts about the moon 10 facts about the moon. Umbriel is the dusky melancholy sprite in alexander popes the rape of the lock, and the name suggests the latin umbra, meaning shadow. The white dot near the center of uranus bluegreen disk is the icy moon ariel. The surface of umbriel has far more and larger craters than do ariel and titania, ranging in diameter from a few kilometers to. The voyager 2 spacecraft is the only mission to fly close enough to image miranda. Did you know that uranus can get as cold as 144 fahrenheit. Umbriel, another shot of the moon of uranus moons of. You can find a few questions on the solar system in many competitive recruitment exams like railways rrb, ssc cgl, sbi po, sbi clerk, ibps clerk, and ibps po. Umbriel is about the same size as ariel and has nearly the same density. Umbriel, moon of uranus the solar system on sea and sky. Near the top is a bright ring called the fluorescent cheerio.
Mar 18, 2011 but any day of the month, the moon has some secrets up her sleeve. Astronomy for kids uranus from voyager 2 uranus from voyager 2 image courtesy of. The color of uranus is blue due to the fact that it has an atmosphere made up of water, ammonia, and methane. Umbriels surface is the darkest of the uranian moons, and reflects only about half as much light as ariel, uranus brightest moon. It was discovered at the same time as ariel and named after a character in alexander popes poem the rape of the lock. The surface appears to be old with large craters and does not change much from one location to another. This hubble composite image shows two very faint outer.
Rather than one moon at a time, voyager 2 encountered the whole system at once. Umbriel is the fourth largest and third most distant of uranus five large moons. The five largest moons are rounded, and four of them show some kind of internal activity which shapes their surfaces. The innermost moons are similar in characteristics with the thin rings.
Crater sizefrequency statistics indicate it has an ancient. Umbriel, another shot of the moon of uranus moons of uranus. Umbriel is the darkest moon and ariel the brightest. Here are 10 cool, and sometimes surprising, facts about earths nearest neighbor. Facts about umbriel, a moon of uranus a knowledge archive. Uranus has 27 known moons, named for characters from the works of william shakespeare or alexander pope. Because of this fact, we have been able to gain more knowledge about it than any other body in the solar system besides the earth. So far the only closeup images of umbriel are from the voyager 2 probe, which made observations of the moon during its uranus flyby.
It was named after the dusky, melancholy sprite from alexander popes the rape of the lock. Despite being photographed up close once and the great distance of over two billion kilometres that separates us we have quite a good picture of what the world of uranuss moon umbriel looks like. It is mostly made of water ice, with the balance made up of silicate rock, and other ices such as methane. Between the orbits of the moons ariel and umbriel, electron spectra are.
Mar 23, 2017 the six apollo crews came back to earth with a total of 850 pounds 385 kg of the moon. Umbriel has no magnetic field and no atmosphere that scientists know about at this time. Miranda one of uranuss 27 moons composite image of the southern hemisphere of miranda. For comparative data about umbriel and other uranian satellites, see the table. Where ariel shows us a face that has lots of interesting and mysterious features, umbriel is more like what most moons look like. The surface area of the moon is 14,658,000 square miles or 9. Here are 10 surprising and strange facts about the moon that may surprise you. Miranda, ariel, umbriel, titania, and oberon smith et al. The moon umbriel has only ever been closely observed once, by voyager 2 in 1986. The moon umbriel, with a diameter of 727 miles, is the third largest of the five main moons of uranus and also the third in line as you move away from the planet. Fast facts namesake roman god, father of the titans mean distance from sun 2.
Umbriel moon simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. By the numbers umbriel nasa solar system exploration. Uranus moon ariel white dot and its shadow black dot were caught crossing the face of uranus in this hubble space telescope image. The surface is the darkest among uranian moons, and appears to have been shaped primarily by impacts. Umbriel consists mainly of ice with a substantial fraction of rock, and may be differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. All of the knowledge we have about this planet was provided to us by the voyager 2, when it took pictures of the planet in 1986. The high cliffs and winding valleys of the moon may indicate partial melting of the interior, with icy material occasionally drifting to the surface. Moon facts there are many interesting facts about the moon and trivia that are can be interesting to know. Uranus and ariel mikulski archive for space telescopes. Jun 21, 20 the moon is earths nearest cosmic neighbor, but it is more than just a big pretty light in the sky.
Umbriel has a diameter of 1,170 km 727 miles and a density of about 1. Only 59% of the moons surface is visible from earth. Uranus is the 7th planet from the sun 1,770,000,000 miles from the sun. Only 59% of the moon s surface is visible from earth. The name umbriel and the names of all four moons of uranus then known were suggested by john herschel in 1852 at the request of lassell. Uranus takes 84 years to complete one orbit of the. Uranus facts for kids interesting facts about planet uranus. Lassell had earlier supported herschels 1847 naming scheme for the seven thenknown moons of saturn and had named his newlyfound eighth moon hyperion in accordance with herschels naming scheme in 1848. The moon is not a planet, but a satellite of the earth. Ariel was found on october 24, 1851 by william lassell.
The moon appears to be composed of equal parts water ice and rocky material, intermixed with small amounts of frozen methane. There is a discovery of 4 moons around uranus and they are given the names. Size of umbriel moon of uranus web conversion online. Dione is the fourthlargest moon of saturn, with a diameter of 698 miles 1,123 kilometers. Kids are sure to enjoy the coloring and unscrambling activities theyll do after reading all about uranus. So far the only closeup images of umbriel are from the voyager 2 probe, which made observations of the moon during its uranus flyby in january, 1986. Umbriel ariel miranda titania oberon triton pluto the major dwarf planets including the biggest moon of pluto. The process by which umbriels ancient cratered surface was darkened remains a mystery. Umbriel orbits uranus at the distance of about 266,000 km 165,000 mi, being the third farthest from the planet among its five major moons. Although umbriel is about the same size as ariel, the family resemblance ends there. The surface of umbriel has far more and larger craters than do ariel and titania, ranging in diameter from a few kilometers to several hundred.
Umbriel moon of uranus umbriel a moon of uranus, has mean radius of 584. Uranuss largest moon, titania, is 980 miles 1,577 km wide. It has the darkest surface of the uranian moons and appears to have been shaped by impacts. Uranus moon umbriel 8 june 2015, by matt williams uranus and its five major moons. Uranus has the coldest temperatures of all of the planets, hitting as low as 224 degrees c. The most curious feature of umbriel is a bright, ringshaped area near to top of the moon. It reflects only 16 percent of the light that strikes its surface, a feature similar to the highland areas of earths moon. Facts about uranus basic information about uranus 1. The moon is named after the leading sylph in alexander popes poem rape of the lock. It is the second most heavily cratered uranian moon after oberon, with craters reaching up to 210 kilometers or miles.
They range in diameter from 472 km for miranda to 1578 km for titania. Media in category umbriel moon the following files are in this category, out of total. Umbriel is a moon of uranus discovered on october 24, 1851, by william lassell. Twelve american astronauts landed on the moon during nasas apollo program in 1969 to 1972, studying the moon and bringing back rock samples. Nov 01, 2015 so far, the only closeup images of umbriel have been provided by the voyager 2 probe, which photographed the moon during its flyby of uranus in january of 1986. Umbriel placeholder a 1986 image of umbriel nasajpl, voyager 2 named after a villanous spright in alexander popes the rape of the lock. It appears to have many craters, but is not as heavily cratered as callisto. In fact, among the uranian moons only oberon has more impact craters than. Usually the term moon brings to mind a spherical object, like earths moon. Scientists at the kuiper airborne observatory and the perth observatory in australia were observing the path of a distant star as uranus passed in front of it and. Read all about the amazing moon and be sure to take our quiz to test your knowledge at the end.
Uranus facts rotation, rings, atmosphere, size, history. Moons of the solar system jet propulsion laboratory. Umbriel umbreeul is the darkest satellite of uranus. The formation and evolution of the solar system began 4. So far the only closeup images of umbriel are from the voyager 2 probe, which made observations. Solar system gk notes in pdf our little corner of the universe is called the solar system. Uranuss moon umbriel a dark, somewhat blue sphere, is on a continuous journey around the icy giant, uranus. Moon facts interesting facts about the earths moon. At the time, only 40% of its surface was visible and a smaller proportion than that was photographed with sufficient quality for analysis. The surface features of this moon are very hard to distinguish in this image, but suggest that umbriel may be one of the icy moons.
All inner moons are intimately connected to the rings of uranus, which probably resulted from the fragmentation of one or several small inner moons. Miranda is one of the smallest bodies in the solar system to be selfrounded under its own gravity. The surface of umbriel seems to be like many icy moons. Umbriel is about as wide as the oregon coast line, being 1170 km 780 miles in size. Also discovered by william lassell in 1851, the moon consists mainly of ice and only a fraction of rock. Umbriel is the th moon of uranus and it is the third largest of this planets moon. Umbriel the third in the family of the five largest moons of uranus is umbriel. The plain, blue image you see here disguises all the interesting things we have learned about the planet. Facts about uranus shreveportbossier astronomical society. It has far more and bigger craters than do ariel and titania and is also the least geologically active. The moon rotates at 10 miles per hour compared to the earths rotation of miles per hour. The five largest are puck, miranda, ariel, umbriel, titania, and oberon. It was found at the same time as ariel physical characteristics.
Umbriel consists mainly of ice with a substantial fraction of rock, and may be differentiated into a. It is about the same size as ariel and has about the same density. It lies about 165,000 miles out and has an orbital time of just over four days. Portions of the surface exhibit presumably older cratered terrain of relatively uniform albedo reflectivity, but other presumably younger eggshaped and chevronshaped areas exhibit bright and dark bands of unknown origin, complex ridges and scarps cliffs presumably caused by faulting. Since then it has been visited by one spacecraft, voyager 2, which taught us nearly everything we know about this moon. It has been called the fluorescent cheerio because of its round shape and bright color. It is also the name of the spirit who serves prospero in shakespeares the tempest.
Umbriel is heavily cratered and it is the darkest of the satellites. Voyager found an old surface with unusually large craters, and determined umbriel s composition to be about half ice and half rock. Jan 20, 2016 umbriel, another shot of the moon of uranus. Nasa, voyager 2 mission during its epic journey through our solar system, the voyager 2 spacecraft sent back this image of uranus. Learn more about the third largest planet in our solar system on this planet printable. This site is maintained by the planetary science communications team at nasas jet propulsion laboratory and goddard space flight center for nasas science mission directorate. From wikipedia, the free encyclopedia umbriel is a moon of uranus found on october 24, 1851 by william lassell. What is known for certain is that umbriel is one of the most heavily cratered moons of uranus, second only to oberon. Miranda has experienced geological activity that was likely caused by tidal heating when this little moon was in orbital resonance with its neighbour umbriel. Moon abcs fact sheet exploring the moon a teachers guide with activities, nasa eg199710116hq 17 property earth moon brain busters equatorial 12,756 km 3,476 km diameter surface area 510 million 37. The two innermost moons cordelia and ophelia are as shepherds of uranuss. Fellow english astronomer william herschel, who had discovered uranus moons. Large impact features on middlesized icy satellites pdf. Facts about the moon the moon is not a planet, but a satellite of the earth.
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