Cordelia (moon)

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Discovered by Richard J. Terrile / Voyager 2
Discovery date January 20, 1986
Avgdistance from the center of its orbital path 49751.722 ± 0.149 km
How long it takes to complete an orbit 0.33503384 ± 0.00000058 d
Angle above the reference plane
0.08479 ± 0.031° (to Uranus' equator)
What it orbits Uranus
Size and other qualities
Measurements 50 × 36 × 36 km
Average radius 21 ± 3 km
Surface area ~5500 km²
Volume ~38,900 km³
Mass ~5.0×1016 kg
Average density ~1.3 g/cm³ assumed
Surface gravity ~0.0073 m/s²
Escape velocity ~0.017 km/s
Rotation period synchronous
Angle at which it turns
(in relation to its orbit)
How much light it reflects 0.08 ± 0.01
Avg. surface temp. ~64 K
Discovery image of Cordelia

Cordelia it the closest moon to Uranus. It was found from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 20, 1986, and was given the designation S/1986 U 7. It was not seen again until the Hubble Space Telescope observed it in 1997. Cordelia takes its name from the youngest daughter of Lear in William Shakespeare's King Lear. It is also designated Uranus VI. This moon which is 14 km (9 mi) across is the same size of Deimos, Mars' smallest moon.

Other than its orbit, radius of 21 km and geometric albedo of 0.08, almost nothing is known about it. At the Voyager 2 images Cordelia appears as a stretched object, the major axis pointing towards Uranus.

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