Online Astronomy eText: Satellites (Moons)
The Satellites (Moons) of Uranus: Titania Link for sharing this page on Facebook

(NASA, Voyager 2, Calvin J. Hamilton, apod960304)
     A more or less true-color image of Titania, taken by Voyager 2 in 1986. This image and the one below show an ancient heavily cratered surface on the right, and extensive fault systems on the left. At the time these images were taken the South pole of Uranus and its moons were facing the Sun so South is on the right and North on the left.


(NASA, Voyager 2, apod000930)
     Another image of Titania, with brightness and contrast adjusted to emphasize small detail. The large impact crater (Gertrude) at the bottom is about 180 miles across. A 60-mile wide fault valley, or chasma, cuts into a crater (Ursula) at the bottom. The prominent fault valley systems near the center extend for nearly 1000 miles, or about a third the circumference of Titania (and may of course extend even further into the unlit and therefore non-imaged portion of the satellite).

Data for Titania

Discovered by William Herschel in 1787
Named after the fairy queen in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Orbital size 435,840 km (approximately 270,800 miles)
Orbital eccentricity 0.2%
Orbital inclination 0.1 degrees
Orbital period 8.70587 days
Rotation period 8.70587 days (synchronous rotation, with one side permanently facing Uranus)
Diameter 1580 km (980 miles)
Mass 0.000584 Earth masses (1/21 Moon masses)
Surface gravity 1/25 of Earth, 1/4 of Earth's Moon
Density 1.7 times density of water (Composition probably about half ice, half rock)
Albedo (reflectivity) 27%
Average magnitude 13.7