Discovery date January 13, 1986 Eccentricity 0.00013 ± 0.000070 Orbital period 11 hours Orbits Uranus | Mean orbit radius 62,658.364 ± 0.047 km Satellite of Uranus Discovered 13 January 1986 Discoverer Stephen P. Synnott | |
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Discovered by Stephen P. Synnott / Voyager 2 Inclination 0.11252 ± 0.037° (to Uranus' equator) Similar Stephen P Synnott discoveries, Uranus moons, Other celestial objects | ||
Desdemona (/ˌdɛzdᵻˈmoʊnə/ DEZ-di-MOH-nə) is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on 13 January 1986, and was given the temporary designation S/1986 U 6. Desdemona is named after the wife of Othello in William Shakespeare's play Othello. It is also designated Uranus X.
Desdemona belongs to Portia Group of satellites, which also includes Bianca, Cressida, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Cupid, Belinda and Perdita. These satellites have similar orbits and photometric properties. Other than its orbit, radius of 32 km and geometric albedo of 0.08 virtually nothing is known about Desdemona.
At the Voyager 2 images Desdemona appears as an elongated object, the major axis pointing towards Uranus. The ratio of axes of Desdemona's prolate spheroid is 0.6 ± 0.3. Its surface is grey in color.
Desdemona may collide with one of its neighboring moons Cressida or Juliet within the next 100 million years.