Space Topics: Uranus
Uranus' Moon Ariel
Diameter: 1,162.2 x 1,155.8 x 1,155.4 kilometers
Orbital distance: 190,900 kilometers from Uranus
Orbital period: 2.52 days
Discovery: 1851 by William Lassell
Ariel has the youngest, as well as the brightest, surface of Uranus’ five
major moons, as well as the brightest. Large areas of the moon are seamed
with a weird network of broad, flat-floored valleys. These valleys form
a sharp contrast to an adjacent smooth hemisphere, pocked with small craters. No
enormous craters were seen by Voyager 2, only small ones, indicating Ariel’s
youth.
Ariel in color
The highest resolution color view of the southern hemisphere of Ariel from
Voyager 2. The equatorial regions (top) are criscrossed by flat-floored graben,
indicating an active geologic history. Credit: NASA/JPL
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