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Uranus, the seventh planet of the Solar System, has 28 confirmed moons. The 27 with names are named after characters that appear in, or are mentioned in, William Shakespeare's plays and Alexander Pope's poem The Rape of the Lock. [1] Uranus's moons are divided into three groups: thirteen inner moons, five major moons, and ten irregular moons.
Of the Solar System's eight planets and its nine most likely dwarf planets, six planets and seven dwarf planets are known to be orbited by at least 300 natural satellites, or moons. At least 19 of them are large enough to be gravitationally rounded; of these, all are covered by a crust of ice except for Earth's Moon and Jupiter's Io . [ 1 ]
Moons of Uranus: Originally presented as satellite planets orbiting the planet Uranus. [15] Planetary status later rescinded, leaving them only as satellites. Oberon: 1787 1700s Ceres: 1801 1867 Asteroid and dwarf planet: The first asteroids to be discovered were accepted as planets in the Copernican system, since they directly orbited the Sun.
The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the sterile worlds scientists have long thought. New study on moons of Uranus raises chance of life Skip to main content
Astronomers have discovered three previously unknown moons around Uranus and Neptune, the most distant planets in our solar system. ... measuring 5 miles (8 kilometers) across. The moon, called S ...
Solar system diagram by Emanuel Bowen in 1747, when neither Uranus, Neptune, nor the asteroid belts had yet been discovered. Orbits of planets are to scale, but the orbits of moons and the sizes of bodies are not. The term "Solar System" entered the English language by 1704, when John Locke used it to refer to the Sun, planets, and comets. [290]
However, the increasing number of moons that were being discovered in the 21st century caused the IAU to draw up a new scheme for the outer moons. At the IAU General Assembly in July 2004, [ 2 ] the WGPSN allowed satellites of Saturn to have names of giants and monsters in mythologies other than the Greco-Roman.
There are 293 confirmed moons in our cosmic neighborhood. By studying these worlds, astronomers hope to learn about ancient asteroid collisions, space volcanoes, and the origins of life itself.