- Caliban (moon)
Caliban "(kal'-i-ban," IPAEng|ˈkælɨbæn, or "kal'-ə-bən," IPA|/ˈkælɨbən/) is the second largest retrograde irregular moon of Uranus.
Caliban was discovered on
1997-09-06 byBrett J. Gladman ,Philip D. Nicholson ,Joseph A. Burns , andJohn J. Kavelaars using the 200-inchHale telescope together with Sycorax and given the temporary designation S/1997 U 1.GLADMAN, NICHOLSON, BURNS, KAVELAARS, MARSDEN, WILLIAMS & OFFUTT"Discovery of two distant irregular moons of Uranus", Nature, 392 (1998), pp. 897 - 899]Designated Uranus XVI it was named after the monster character in
William Shakespeare 's play "The Tempest"..The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong, together with Stephano to the same dynamic cluster, suggesting common origin.Grav, Tommy; Holman, Matthew J.; Gladman, Brett J.; Aksnes, Kaare"Photometric survey of the irregular satellites",Icarus, 166 (2003), pp. 33-45. [http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0301016 Preprint] ]
Its diameter is estimated at 72 km (assuming
albedo of 0.04) making it the second largest irregular satellite of Uranus, half the size of Sycorax, the biggest irregular satellite of Uranus.Somewhat inconsistent reports put Caliban in "light-red" category (B-V=0.83 V-R=0.52,154 (2001), pp. 313-320 ] B-V=1.23 V-R=0.47) redder than Sycorax but still less red than most
Kuiper Belt Objects.The
light curve suggests the rotation period of 2.7h.ee also
*
Uranus' natural satellites
*irregular satellite sReferences
External links
* [http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Ura_Caliban Caliban Profile] by [http://solarsystem.nasa.gov NASA's Solar System Exploration]
* [http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~jewitt/irregulars.html David Jewiit pages]
* [http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/sheppard/satellites/urasatdata.html Uranus' Known Satellites] (byScott S. Sheppard )
* [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/NatSats/NaturalSatellites.html Ephemeris IAU-NSES]
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