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Ophelia (pronounced /ɵˈfiːliə/ o-FEE-lee-ə) is a moon of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on January 20, 1986 and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 8.[7] It was not seen until the Hubble Space Telescope recovered it in 2003.[6][8] Ophelia was named after the daughter of Polonius, Ophelia, in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. It is also designated Uranus VII.[9]

Unfortunately, other than its orbit,[1] radius of 21 km[2] and geometric albedo of 0.08[6] virtually nothing is known about it. At the Voyager 2 images Ophelia appears as an elongated object, the major axis pointing towards Uranus. The ratio of axises of the Ophelia's prolate spheroid is 0.7 ± 0.3.[2]

Ophelia acts as the outer shepherd satellite for Uranus' Epsilon ring.[10] The orbit of Ophelia is within the synchronous orbit radius of Uranus, and therefore the moon is slowly decaying due to tidal forces.[2]

* Moons of Uranus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Jacobson, R.A. (1998). "The Orbits of the Inner Uranian Satellites From Hubble Space Telescope and Voyager 2 Observations". The Astronomical Journal 115: 1195–1199. doi:10.1086/300263. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AJ....115.1195J. edit
2. ^ a b c d e f g Karkoschka, Erich (2001). "Voyager's Eleventh Discovery of a Satellite of Uranus and Photometry and the First Size Measurements of Nine Satellites". Icarus 151: 69–77. doi:10.1006/icar.2001.6597. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001Icar..151...69K. edit
3. ^ a b c "Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters". JPL (Solar System Dynamics). 2008-10-24. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?sat_phys_par. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
4. ^ a b Williams, Dr. David R. (2007-11-23). "Uranian Satellite Fact Sheet". NASA (National Space Science Data Center). http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/uraniansatfact.html. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
5. ^ a b c d e f Calculated on the basis of other parameters
6. ^ a b c Karkoschka, Erich (2001). "Comprehensive Photometry of the Rings and 16 Satellites of Uranus with the Hubble Space Telescope". Icarus 151: 51–68. doi:10.1006/icar.2001.6596. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001Icar..151...51K. edit
7. ^ Smith, B. A. (January 27, 1986). "IAU Circular No. 4168". http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/04100/04168.html. Retrieved 2006-08-05.
8. ^ Showalter, M. R.; Lissauer, J. J. (September 3, 2003). "IAU Circular No. 8194". http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/08100/08194.html. Retrieved 2006-08-05.
9. ^ "Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. July 21, 2006. http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/append7.html. Retrieved 2006-08-05.
10. ^ Esposito, L. W. (2002). "Planetary rings". Reports On Progress In Physics 65: 1741–1783. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/65/12/201. http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0034-4885/65/12/201.