Prospero (moon)

Prospero is a small retrograde irregular satellite of Uranus discovered on 18 July 1999 by the astrophysicist Matthew Holman and his team, and given the provisional designation S/1999 U 3. Confirmed as Uranus XVIII it was named after the sorcerer Prospero in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

File:Prospero discovery image.gif

Animation of discovery images to show Prospero's motion among background stars

The orbital parameters suggest that it may belong to the same dynamic cluster as Sycorax and Setebos, suggesting a common origin.<ref name="Grav 2003"/> However, this suggestion does not appear to be supported by the observed colours. The satellite appears neutral (grey) in visible light (colour indices B−V=0.80, R−V=0.39),Template:Sfn similar to Setebos but different from Sycorax (which is light red).

See also

• Uranus's natural satellites
• Irregular satellites

References

• Template:Cite journal
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External links

• Prospero Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
• David Jewitt pages
• Uranus' Known Satellites (by Scott S. Sheppard)
• MPC: Natural Satellites Ephemeris Service