Key facts
- Discovered by
- John J. Kavelaars Matthew J. Holman Dan Milisavljevic Tommy Grav
- Discovery site
- Cerro Tololo Obs.
- Discovery date
- 13 August 2001
- Designation
- Uranus XXII
- Pronunciation
- / f r æ n ˈ s ɪ s k oʊ /
- Named after
- Francisco ( The Tempest character)
- Alternative names
- S/2001 U 3
- Satellite of
- Uranus
- Proper semi major axis
- 4,275,700 km (0.028581 AU )
- Proper inclination
- 146.8° (to ecliptic )
- Proper orbital period
- 0.73 years (267 d)
- Precession of perihelion long
- 103.904434 arcsec / yr
- Precession of asc node
- 89.8814065 arcsec / yr
- Mean diameter
- 11–17 km , 22 km
- Apparent magnitude
- 25.0 (average)
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
Francisco, also known as Uranus XXII and previously as S/2001 U 3, is the innermost known irregular satellite of Uranus, orbiting in a retrograde direction. It was discovered on 13 August 2001 by John J. Kavelaars, Matthew J. Holman, Dan Milisavljevic, and Tommy Grav using the 4.0-meter Víctor M. Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile. It was named after Francisco, a lord in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Francisco orbits Uranus at an average distance of 4.3 million km (2.7 million mi) and takes about 267 Earth days (0.73 Earth years) to complete one orbit. Francisco is estimated to be up to 22 km (14 mi) in diameter, though many of its physical properties are unknown.
Discovery