Mab, or Uranus XXVI, is an inner satellite of

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus (Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares ( Mars), grandfather of Zeus ( Jupiter) and father of ...

. It was discovered by Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer in 2003 using the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...

. It was named after

Queen Mab Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', where "she is the fairies' midwife". Later, she appears in other poetry and literature, and in various guises in drama and cinema. In the play, her activity ...

, a fairy queen from English folklore who is mentioned in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

''. Because the moon is small and dark, it was not seen in the heavily scrutinized images taken by ''

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, '' Voyager 1'', on ...

'' during its Uranus flyby in 1986. However, it is brighter than another moon, Perdita, which was discovered from Voyager's photos in 1997. This led scientists to re-examine the old photos again, and the satellite was finally found in the images. The size of Mab is not known exactly. If it is as dark as Puck, it is about 24 km in diameter. On the other hand, if it is brightly coloured like the neighbouring moon Miranda, it would be even smaller than

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known in L ...

and comparable to the smallest outer satellites. Mab is heavily perturbed. The actual source for perturbation is still unclear, but is presumed to be one or more of the nearby orbiting moons. Mab orbits at the same distance from Uranus as the μ ring (formerly known as R/2003 U 1), a recently discovered dusty ring. The moon is nearly the optimal size for dust production, since larger moons can recollect the escaping dust and smaller moons have too small surface areas for supplying the ring via ring particle or

meteoroid A meteoroid () is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than this are classified as mic ...

collisions. No rings associated with Perdita and Cupid have been found, probably because Belinda limits the lifetimes of dust they generate. Following its discovery, Mab was given the temporary designation S/2003 U 1. The moon is also designated Uranus XXVI.

References

External links

Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus
nbsp;– Hubble Space Telescope news release (25 September 2003)
NASA's Hubble Discovers New Rings and Moons Around Uranus
nbsp;– Hubble Space Telescope news release (22 December 2005)
Hubble detects two large outer rings, two new moons orbiting Uranus
(Courtesy of

Astronomy Magazine ''Astronomy'' is a monthly American magazine about astronomy. Targeting amateur astronomers, it contains columns on sky viewing, reader-submitted astrophotographs, and articles on astronomy and astrophysics for general readers. History ''Astr ...

2005)
Uranus' Known Satellites
(by Scott S. Sheppard) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mab (Moon) Moons of Uranus 20030825 Moons with a prograde orbit Romeo and Juliet

See also

References

External links