Mab, or Uranus XXVI, is an inner satellite of

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It is a gaseous cyan-coloured ice giant. Most of the planet is made of water, ammonia, and methane in a Supercritical fluid, supercritical phase of matter, which astronomy calls "ice" or Volatile ( ...

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

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

. It was named after Queen Mab, a fairy queen from English folklore who is mentioned in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

''. 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, as a part of the Voyager program. It was launched on a trajectory towards the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and enabled further encounters with the ice giants (Uranus and ...

'' 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. Following its discovery, Mab was given the temporary designation S/2003 U 1. The size of Mab is not precisely known. If it is as dark as Puck, it is about in diameter. On the other hand, if it has a relatively bright surface like the neighbouring moon Miranda, it would be smaller than

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid ( , 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 as Amor (Latin: ...

and comparable to the smallest outer satellites. Infrared observation published in 2023 suggest that Mab is probably a 12-km body with a Miranda-like surface, rich in water ice; though not leaving out the possibility of it being a 24-km body with a Puck-like surface. 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 dusty

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

discovered around the same time as Mab. 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 distinguished as objects significantly smaller than ''asteroids'', ranging in size from grains to objects up to wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classifie ...

collisions. No rings associated with Perdita and Cupid have been found, probably because Belinda limits the lifetimes of dust they generate.

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 ''A ...

2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mab (Moon) Moons of Uranus 20030825 Moons with a prograde orbit Romeo and Juliet

See also

References

External links