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Cressida (moon) facts for kids

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Cressida
Discovery
Discovered by Stephen P. Synnott / Voyager 2
Discovery date January 9, 1986
Orbital characteristics
Mean orbit radius
61,766.730 ± 0.046 km
Eccentricity 0.00036 ± 0.00011
0.463569601 ± 0.000000013 d
Inclination 0.006 ± 0.040° (to Uranus' equator)
Satellite of Uranus
Physical characteristics
Dimensions 92 × 74 × 74 km
Mean radius
41 ± 2 km
~20,000 km²
Volume ~260,000 km³
Mass ~3.4×1017 kg
Mean density
~1.3 g/cm³ (assumed)
~0.013 m/s2
~0.034 km/s
synchronous
zero
Albedo 0.08 ± 0.01
Temperature ~64 K
Uranus-Portia-Cressida-Ophelia-NASA

Cressida is a closer moon to Uranus. It was found from the images taken by Voyager 2 on 1986-01-09, and was given the designation S/1986 U 3. It was named after the Trojan daughter of Calchas, a tragic heroine who appears in William Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida (as well as in tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and others). It is also designated Uranus IX.

Cressida belongs to Portia Group of moons, which also includes Bianca, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Cupid, Belinda and Perdita. These moons have similar orbits and photometric properties. Other than its orbit, radius of 41 km and geometric albedo of 0.08 almost nothing is known about it.

At the Voyager 2 images Cressida appears as a stretched object, the major axis pointing towards Uranus. The ratio of axises of the Cressida's prolate spheroid is 0.8 ± 0.3. Its surface is grey in color.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Crésida (satélite) para niños

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