Ariel is the fourth-largest moon of Uranus. Ariel orbits and rotates in Uranus's equatorial plane, which is almost perpendicular to the planet's orbit, giving the moon an extreme seasonal cycle. It was discovered on 24 October 1851 by William Lassell and named for a character in two different pieces of literature. As of 2019, much of the detailed knowledge of Ariel derives from a single flyby of Uranus performed by the space probe Voyager 2 in 1986, which managed to image around 35% of the moon's surface.
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Orbits
Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
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1. Wikipedia: Ariel (moon)
Ariel (moon), lead section
the fourth-largest moon of Uranus
Ariel (moon), infobox (Discovered)
24 October 1851
Lead section
Ariel orbits and rotates in Uranus's equatorial plane, which is almost perpendicular to the planet's orbit, giving the moon an extreme seasonal cycle.
- In Category: Celestial Objects, Ariel (moon), Wikipedia summary
In Group: Moons of Uranus, Lead sentence
Ariel is the fourth-largest moon of Uranus.
View the SourceWikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationOrbits: Uranus, Ariel (moon), orbit section (edges wave 2)Quote, Orbits: Uranus, Ariel (moon), orbit section (edges wave 2)
Among Uranus's five major moons, Ariel is the second closest to the planet, orbiting at the distance of about 190,000 km.
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