Puck (pukk) is a moon of Uranus. Little is known about it aside from its orbit, its size, and its low albedo (approximately 0.07).
It was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 on 1985-12-30 , and was given the temporary designation S/1985 U 1. It is also designated Uranus XV.
Puck is the sixth-largest of Uranus' moons; it is intermediate in size between Miranda and Portia. Puck's orbit is also located between these two moons.
Of the moons discovered by the Voyager 2 imaging team, only Puck was discovered early enough that the probe could be programmed to image it in detail.
Most of the moons of Uranus are named after characters in the plays of William Shakespeare or the poems of Alexander Pope. In Celtic mythology and English folklore, a Puck is a mischievous sprite, imagined as an evil demon by Christians; the moon is named after the Puck who appears in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he travels around the globe at night with the fairies.
See also
Last updated: 05-30-2005 03:13:13
