Cupid (moon)
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Cupid is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered by Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer in 2003 using the Hubble Space Telescope.<ref name="IAUC 8209" /> It was named after a character in William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens.<ref name="Gazetteer" />
Cupid is one of the smaller known inner Uranian satellites, crudely estimated to be only about Template:Cvt in diameter. This and the dark surface made it too dim to be detected by the Voyager 2 cameras during its Uranus flyby in 1986.
The orbit of Cupid is separated by only Template:Cvt from the orbit of the larger moon Belinda. Unlike Mab and Perdita, two Uranian satellites also discovered in 2003, it does not seem to be perturbed.<ref name="Showalter Lissauer 2006" /> Despite this, it has the least stable orbit of Uranus's inner moons—it is likely to collide with Belinda in the next 100,000–10 million years, due to resonance interactions that cause the smaller Cupid to drift into a more dangerous orbit over this timescale.<ref name="French Showalter 2012">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Cupid is at most 500 million years old.<ref name="Ćuk et al. 2022"/>
Following its discovery, Cupid was given the temporary designation S/2003 U 2.<ref name="IAUC 8209" /> It is also designated Uranus XXVII.<ref name="Gazetteer" />
References
External links
- Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus – Hubble Space Telescope news release (25 September 2003)
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