Sycorax (moon)
Sycorax /ˈsɪkɒræks/ is the largest irregular satellite of Uranus. Sycorax was discovered on 6 September 1997 by Brett J. Gladman, Philip D. Nicholson, Joseph A. Burns, and John J. Kavelaars using the 200-inch Hale telescope, together with Caliban, and given the temporary designation S/1997 U 2.
Animation of discovery images taken by the Hale Telescope in September 1997 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | |
| Discovery site | Hale Telescope at Palomar Obs. |
| Discovery date | 6 September 1997 |
| Designations | |
Designation | Uranus XVII |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsɪkɒræks/ |
Named after | Sycorax |
| S/1997 U 2 | |
| Adjectives | Sycoraxian /sɪkɒˈræksiən/ |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 31 July 2016 (JD 2457600.5) | |
| Observation arc | 32.37 yr (11,815 d) |
| Earliest precovery date | 2 June 1984 |
| 12,193,230 km (0.0815067 AU) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.4841889 |
| 3.52 yr (1,286.28 d) | |
| 160.58731° | |
| 0° 16m 47.56s / day | |
| Inclination | 153.22796° (to the ecliptic) 159.403° (to local Laplace plane) |
| 258.56478° | |
| 16.29680° | |
| Satellite of | Uranus |
| Physical characteristics | |
Mean diameter | 157+23 −15 km 165+36 −42 km |
| Mass | ~2.5×1018 kg (estimate) |
Mean density | ~1.3 g/cm3 (assumed) |
| 6.9162±0.0013 hr (double-peaked) 3.6 hr (single-peaked) | |
| Albedo | 0.065+0.015 −0.011 0.049+0.038 −0.017 |
| Temperature | ~65 K (mean estimate) |
| 20.8 (V) | |
| 7.5±0.04 7.83±0.06 | |
Officially confirmed as Uranus XVII, it was named after Sycorax, Caliban's mother in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
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