Titania (moon)

Titania (ti-taa'-nyə or tye-tan'-ee-ə, IPA Template:IPA) is the largest moon of Uranus. Titania was discovered on January 11, 1787 by William Herschel.

1 Name
2 Physical characteristics
3 Occultation
4 See also
5 Trivia

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Name

The name "Titania" and the names of all four satellites of Uranus then known were suggested by Herschel's son John Herschel in 1852 at the request of William Lassell, who had discovered Ariel and Umbriel the year before ([1]). Lassell had earlier endorsed Herschel's 1847 naming scheme for the seven then-known satellites of Saturn and had named his newly-discovered eighth satellite Hyperion in accordance with Herschel's naming scheme in 1848.

All of the moons of Uranus are named for characters from Shakespeare or Alexander Pope. Titania was named after Titania, the Queen of the Faeries in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

It is also designated Uranus III.

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Physical characteristics

Image:Titania PIA00039.jpg So far the only close-up images of Titania are from the Voyager 2 probe, which photographed the moon during its Uranus flyby in January, 1986. At the time of the flyby the southern hemisphere of the moon was pointed towards the Sun so only it was studied.

Although its interior composition is uncertain, one model suggests that Titania is composed of roughly 50% water ice, 30% silicate rock, and 20% methane-related organic compounds. A major surface feature is a huge canyon that dwarfs the scale of the Grand Canyon on Earth and is in the same class as the Valles Marineris on Mars or Ithaca Chasma on Saturn's moon Tethys.

Scientists recognise the following geological features on Titania:

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Occultation

On September 8, 2001, Titania occulted a faint star; this was an opportunity to both refine its diameter and ephemeris, and to detect any extant atmosphere. The data revealed no atmosphere to a surface pressure of 0.03 microbars; if it exists, it would have to be far thinner than that of Triton or Pluto.[2],[3]

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Trivia

Kim Stanley Robinson's Blue Mars contains a description of a colony on Titania, where humans have adapted to the low gravity and light levels.

Astronomy Domine, a song by Pink Floyd, refers Titania.

Image:Uranus2 symbol.ant.png Uranus (satellites) edit
Cordelia \| Ophelia \| Bianca \| Cressida \| Desdemona \| Juliet \| Portia \| Rosalind \| Cupid
Belinda \| Perdita \| Puck \| Mab \| Miranda \| Ariel \| Umbriel \| Titania \| Oberon \| Francisco
Caliban \| Stephano \| Trinculo \| Sycorax \| Margaret \| Prospero \| Setebos \| Ferdinand
See also: Pronunciation key \| Rings of Uranus