Moon of Uranus
Ariel
The brightest, youngest-looking of Uranus's large moons.
Ariel orbits Uranus every 2.52 days on a regular orbit: prograde, low in inclination, and nearly circular. It keeps the same face toward Uranus. Like all the major Uranian moons, it travels in the plane of Uranus's tipped-over equator.
How it moves
- Ariel orbits Uranus every 2.520 days at about 190,900 km.
- Its orbit is prograde with very low inclination (0.04 degrees) and eccentricity (0.0012).
- It is tidally locked to Uranus.
- Tidal interactions with Uranus may have heated Ariel in the past.
Facts
- Mean radius
- 578.9 km
- Mass
- 1.290e+21 kg
- Surface gravity
- 0.249 m/s²
- Rotation period
- 60.489 hours
- Orbital period
- 2.52 days
- Average orbital distance
- 190,900 km
- Eccentricity
- 0.0012
- Discovered
- October 24, 1851, by William Lassell
Ariel has the youngest-looking surface of Uranus's moons, with few large craters.
Sources: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov, ssd.jpl.nasa.gov, ssd.jpl.nasa.gov