Cupid (moon) Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Cupid
Discovery

Discovered by	Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer
Discovery date	August 25, 2003
Designations
MPC designation	Uranus XXVII
Adjectives	Cupidian
Orbital characteristics
Semi-major axis	74,392 km
Eccentricity	0.0013
Orbital period	0.618 d
Inclination	0.1° (to Uranus' equator)
Satellite of	Uranus
Physical characteristics
Mean radius	~9 km
Surface area	~1,000 km²
Volume	~3,000 km³
Mass	~3.8×10¹⁵ kg
Mean density	~1.3 g/cm³
Surface gravity	~0.0031 m/s²
Escape velocity	~0.0076 km/s
Rotation period	synchronous
Axial tilt	0
Albedo	0.07 (assumed)
Temperature	~64 K

This picture shows the moons and rings around Uranus.

Cupid is a small moon that orbits the planet Uranus. It is one of Uranus's inner moons. Don't confuse it with the asteroid named 763 Cupido!

Cupid is the smallest known inner moon of Uranus. Scientists think it is only about 18 kilometers (11 miles) wide. That's pretty tiny for a moon!

Scientists Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer found Cupid in 2003. They used the powerful Hubble Space Telescope to spot this tiny moon.

After its discovery, Cupid was first called S/2003 U 2. This was a temporary name. It is also known as Uranus XXVII.

Cool Facts About Cupid

Cupid got its name from a character. This character is in a play by William Shakespeare called Timon of Athens.
Cupid's surface is very dark. Because of this, the Voyager 2 spacecraft could not see it. Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986.
Cupid's orbit is not very stable. Scientists believe it might crash into Belinda. Belinda is a larger moon of Uranus. This could happen in the next 100,000 to 10 million years.
Other moons of Uranus, like Mab and Perdita, were also found in 2003. But Cupid does not seem to be pulled off course by other moons. This is called being perturbed.