Centuries later, the moons of Uranus pay homage to the famous playwright. While most satellites orbiting other planets take their names from ancient mythologies, Uranus' moons are unique in being named for Shakespearean characters, along with a couple of the moons being named for characters from the works of Alexander Pope.
In the outer solar system, the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and the ice giants Uranus and Neptune have dozens of moons. As these planets grew in the early solar system, they were able to capture smaller objects with their large gravitational fields.
The planetary system we call home is located in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity – the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; dwarf planets such as Pluto; dozens of moons; and millions of asteroids, comets, and meteoroids. Beyond our own solar system, there ...
Overview Oberon is the second largest moon of Uranus. Discovered in 1787, little was known about this moon until Voyager 2 passed it during its flyby of Uranus in January 1986. Oberon is heavily cratered―similar to Umbriel―especially when compared to three other moons of Uranus: Ariel, Titania and Miranda.
All of Uranus' larger moons, including Miranda, are thought to consist mostly of roughly equal amounts of water ice and silicate rock. Unlike the other four main Uranian satellites, Miranda's orbit is slightly inclined. Of the five Uranian moons known before Voyager 2 visited the planet, Miranda is the smallest and closest to the planet.