Key facts
- Discovered by
- Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer
- Discovery date
- August 25, 2003
- Designation
- Uranus XXVI
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ m æ b /
- Adjectives
- Mabian
- Semi major axis
- 97 735.966 km
- Orbital period sidereal
- 0.923 d (calculated)
- Average orbital speed
- 7.70 km/s (calculated)
- Inclination
- 0.12217° (to Uranus's equator)
- Satellite of
- Uranus
- Mean radius
- 6 km/ 12.4 ± 0.5 km
- Mean density
- 0.5–1.2 g/cm
- Synodic rotation period
- synchronous
- Albedo
- ~0.46/0.1 (assumed)
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
Mab, or Uranus XXVI, is an inner satellite of Uranus. It was discovered by Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer in 2003 using the Hubble Space Telescope. It was named after Queen Mab, a fairy queen from English folklore who is mentioned in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.
Because the moon is small and dark, it was not seen in the heavily scrutinized images taken by Voyager 2 during its Uranus flyby in 1986. However, it is brighter than another moon, Perdita, which was discovered from Voyager's photos in 1997. This led scientists to re-examine the old photos again, and the satellite was finally found in the images. Following its discovery, Mab was given the temporary designation S/2003 U 1.