Uranus Moons: Names, Numbers, and List in 2023

Planet Uranus has a total number of 27 moons till 2022. Of the total number of Uranus moons, 5 are the major moons, 13 are the inner moons, and the rest 9 are the irregular moons.

The inner moons of planet Uranus exist in the region of its ring and are small in size. In comparison, the major moons are the comparatively larger Uranus satellites. ‘Titania’ comes in the category of major Uranus moons and is the largest moon of Uranus.

Here in this article, we have mentioned some important information about the Moons of Uranus. Such as the number of moons, names, and moons list with some facts and information.

Uranus Satellite – Facts and Information

British astronomer ‘Frederick William Herschel‘ discovered the planet Uranus in March 1781 with the help of his own made telescope. Six years later he discovered two major and largest Uranus moons ‘Titania’ and ‘Oberon’ in January 1787.

English astronomer, ‘William Lassell‘ discovered the other two major Uranian moons ‘Ariel’ and ‘Umbriel’ in 1851. Whereas in 1948, Dutch astronomer and planetary scientist Gerard Kuiper discovered the smallest major Uranian satellite ‘Miranda’.

Most of the Uranus moons were discovered by space probe Voyager 2 when it flew near Uranus in 1985. And remaining natural satellites of Uranus were found with the help of advanced telescopes from the earth.

“Titania is the largest moon of Uranus with a diameter of around 1578 km (981 miles). It is the eighth-largest natural satellite in our solar system”.

Titania has many huge impact craters, some are around 300 km in diameter. But the second-largest moon of Uranus ‘Oberon’ has some larger craters than Titania.

The irregular moons of Uranus exist at larger distances and mostly have retrograde orbits. Whereas the inner moons of Uranus share their orbit with its ring system.

Uranian satellites have some special facts while considering their names. In our solar system planets, most of the names of the planet’s satellites are taken or related to mythologies, but here the fact is different. The names of the Uranus moons are mostly taken from the characters in the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

The major moon ‘Miranda’ has a totally icy surface, whereas other major uranian moons (Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon) are made of rock and ice.

The nearest moon to Uranus is Cordelia with an average distance of around 50,000 kilometers, whereas the farthest moon to Uranus is Ferdinand with an average distance of around 20.40 million kilometers.

Read about: Interesting Facts about the Moon

Uranus Moons – Number, Names, and List

Here you can find the Uranus number of moons with a proper list of names. These mentioned names of Uranian moons are in order of increasing distance from Uranus.

Order:- “Moon name- distance from Uranus (in million km)- moon diameter (in km)”

Cordelia– distance: 0.049 million km- diameter: 45 km
Ophelia– distance: 0.053 million km- diameter: 48 km
Bianca– distance: 0.059 million km- diameter: 55 km
Cressida– distance: 0.062 million km- diameter: 84 km
Desdemona– distance: 0.063 million km- diameter: 70 km
Juliet– distance: 0.064 million km- diameter: 100 km
Portia– distance: 0.066 million km- diameter: 142 km
Rosalind– distance: 0.069 million km- diameter: 80 km
Cupid– distance: 0.074 million km- diameter: 18 km
Belinda– distance: 0.075 million km- diameter: 105 km
Perdita– distance: 0.076 million km- diameter: 35 km
Puck– distance: 0.086 million km- diameter: 165 km
Mab– distance: 0.097 million km- diameter: 25 km
Miranda– distance: 0.13 million km- diameter: 472 km
Ariel– distance: 0.19 million km- diameter: 1158 km
Umbriel– distance: 0.26 million km- diameter: 1175 km
Titania– distance: 0.43 million km- diameter: 1578 km
Oberon– distance: 0.58 million km- diameter: 1525 km
Francisco– distance: 4.27 million km- diameter: 22 km
Caliban– distance: 7.16 million km- diameter: 50 km
Stephano– distance: 7.95 million km- diameter: 32 km
Trinculo– distance: 8.50 million km- diameter: 18 km
Sycorax– distance: 12.20 million km- diameter: 170 km
Margaret– distance: 14.42 million km- diameter: 20 km
Prospero– distance: 16.20 million km- diameter: 50 km
Setebos– distance: 17.54 million km- diameter: 48 km
Ferdinand– distance: 20.45 million km- diameter: 20 km

So these were all 27 Uranus moons listed. There have been only 27 detected so far. Planet Uranus is much farther from us, so it becomes difficult to detect small bodies near it. Therefore scientists believe there could be many smaller Uranus satellites. Hope the list of Uranus moons will increase soon.

Also, read here about all eight solar system planets:-