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In gravitationally bound systems, the orbital speed of an astronomical body or object (e.g. planet, moon, artificial satellite, spacecraft, or star) is the speed at which it orbits around either the barycenter (the combined center of mass) or, if one body is much more massive than the other bodies of the system combined, its speed relative to the center of mass of the most massive body.
Among Uranus's five major moons, Ariel is the second closest to the planet, orbiting at the distance of about 190,000 km. [f] Its orbit has a small eccentricity and is inclined very little relative to the equator of Uranus. [3] Its orbital period is around 2.5 Earth days, coincident with its rotational period.
The orbits of the regular moons are nearly coplanar with Uranus's equator, which is tilted 97.77° to its orbit. Uranus's irregular moons have elliptical and strongly inclined (mostly retrograde) orbits at large distances from the planet. [3] William Herschel discovered the first two moons, Titania and Oberon, in 1787.
S/2023 U 1 has an average orbital eccentricity of 0.25 and an average inclination of 144° with respect to the ecliptic, or the plane of Earth's orbit. [3] Since S/2023 U 1's orbital inclination is greater than 90°, the moon has a retrograde orbit, meaning it orbits in the opposite direction of Uranus' orbit around the Sun. [5] Due to ...
The intensity of sunlight varies inversely with the square of the distance—on Uranus (at about 20 times the distance from the Sun compared to Earth), it is about 1/400 the intensity of light on Earth. [69] The orbital elements of Uranus were first calculated in 1783 by Pierre-Simon Laplace. [70]
Crantor was first suggested as a possible co-orbital of Uranus in 2006. [11] The body follows a complex, transient horseshoe orbit around Uranus. Classical horseshoe orbits include the Lagrangian points L 3, L 4, and L 5, but Crantor's horseshoe orbit also brings it near Uranus. The motion of Crantor is mainly controlled by the influence of the ...
Oberon orbits Uranus at a distance of about 584,000 km, being the farthest from the planet among its five major moons. [e] Oberon's orbit has a small orbital eccentricity and inclination relative to the equator of Uranus. [4] Its orbital period is around 13.5 days, coincident with its rotational period.
Uranus is the third-largest and fourth most massive planet in the Solar System. It orbits the Sun at a distance of about 2.8 billion kilometers (1.7 billion miles) and completes one orbit every 84 years. The length of a day on Uranus as measured by Voyager 2 is 17 hours and 14 minutes. Uranus is distinguished by the fact that it is tipped on ...