Titania (moon) - Definition and Overview

Titania should not be confused with Titan, a moon of Saturn.

Titania

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Discovery
Discovered by	W. Herschel
Discovered in	January 11, 1787
Orbital characteristics
Mean radius	463,300 km
Eccentricity	0.0017
Orbital period	8.71 days
Inclination	0.08°
Is a satellite of	Uranus
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	1577.8 km
Surface area	7,800,000 km2
Mass	3.526×1021kg
Mean density	1.71 g/cm3
Surface gravity	0.378 m/s2
Rotation period	8.71 days
Axial tilt
Albedo	0.28
Surface temp.	min mean max K K K
Atmospheric pressure

Titania ("ti TAN ee a") is the largest moon of Uranus. Titania was discovered on January 11, 1787 by William Herschel.

The name "Titania" and the names of all four satellites of Uranus then known were suggested by Herschel's son John Herschel in 1852 at the request of William Lassell, who had discovered Ariel and Umbriel the year before ([1] (http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/AN.../0034//0000169.000.html)). Lassell had earlier endorsed Herschel's 1847 naming scheme for the seven then-known satellites of Saturn and had named his newly-discovered eighth satellite Hyperion in accordance with Herschel's naming scheme in 1848.

All of the moons of Uranus are named for characters from Shakespeare or Alexander Pope. Titania was named after Titania, the Queen of the Faeries in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

There is also an asteroid called 593 Titania.

Physical characteristics

Titania is composed of roughly 50% water ice, 30% silicate rock, and 20% methane-related organic compounds. A major surface feature is a huge canyon that dwarfs the scale of the Grand Canyon on Earth and is in the same class as the Valles Marineris on Mars or Ithaca Chasma on Saturn's moon Tethys.

Scientists recognise the following geological features on Titania:

• Chasmata (chasms)
• Craters
• Rupes (scarps)

See also List of geological features on Titania.