Titania (moon) facts for kids

Titania

Click image for description
Discovery
Discovered by	William Herschel
Discovered in	January 11, 1787
Orbital characteristics
Semi-major axis	435,910 km
Mean radius	436,300 km
Eccentricity	0.0011
Orbital period	8.706 d
Inclination	0.340° (to Uranus' equator)
Is a moon of	Uranus
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	1577.8 km (0.1237 Earths)
Surface area	7,820,000 km²
Volume	2,057,000,000 km³
Mass	3.526×1021 kg (5.9×10−4 Earths)
Mean density	1.72 g/cm³
Surface gravity	0.378 m/s2 (~0.039 g)
Escape velocity	0.77 km/s
Rotation period	synchronous
Axial tilt	zero
Albedo	0.27
Apparent magnitude	13.73
Surface temp.	min mean max  ? K ~60 K  ? K
Atmospheric pressure

Titania is the largest moon of Uranus. It is also the eighth biggest moon in our Solar System. This icy world orbits far from the Sun.

Discovering Titania

Titania was found on January 11, 1787. The famous astronomer William Herschel discovered it. He also found another moon, Oberon, in the same year.

Naming the Moon

The names for Titania and other moons of Uranus came from John Herschel. He was William Herschel's son. He suggested the names in 1852.

All of Uranus' moons are named after characters. These characters are from plays by William Shakespeare or poems by Alexander Pope. Titania gets its name from Titania. She is the Queen of the Faeries in Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The moon is also known as Uranus III.

What Titania is Like

The only close-up pictures of Titania are from the Voyager 2 spacecraft. It flew past Uranus in January 1986. At that time, only the southern part of Titania was facing the Sun. So, only that part was studied.

Scientists think Titania is made of different materials. About half of it is water ice. Around 30% is silicate rock. The rest, about 20%, is made of methane-related organic compounds.

Features on Titania's Surface

Features on Titania's surface are named after characters and places from Shakespeare's plays. Large cracks are called chasmata. Steep slopes are called rupes. Craters on Titania are named after female characters.

One very big feature is a huge canyon. It is much larger than the Grand Canyon on Earth. It is similar in size to Valles Marineris on Mars or Ithaca Chasma on Saturn's moon Tethys.

Looking for an Atmosphere

On September 8, 2001, Titania passed in front of a faint star. This event is called an occultation. Scientists used this chance to measure Titania's size more accurately. They also looked for an atmosphere. The data showed that Titania has no atmosphere, or it is extremely thin. It would be much thinner than the atmospheres on Triton or Pluto.

Images for kids

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  Size comparison of Earth, the Moon, and Titania.

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  Voyager 2's highest-resolution image of Titania shows moderately cratered plains, enormous rifts and long scarps. Near the bottom, a region of smoother plains including the crater Ursula is split by the graben Belmont Chasma.

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  Titania with surface features labeled. The south pole is situated close to the unidentified bright crater below and left of the crater Jessica.

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  Messina Chasma—a large canyon on Titania

See also

In Spanish: Titania (satélite) para niños