Puck (moon)

**Puck**
Discovery
Discovered by	Stephen P. Synnott / Voyager 2
Discovered on	December 30, 1985
Orbital characteristics
Mean radius	86,004 km
Eccentricity	0.00005
Orbital period	0.76183 d
Inclination	0.318° (to Uranus' equator)
Is a satellite of	Uranus
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter	162 km
Surface area	~82,400 km²
Volume	~2,226,000 km³
Mass	~2.9 kg (estimate)
Mean density	~1.3 g/cm³ (estimate)
Surface gravity	0.029 m/s² (estimate)
Escape velocity	~0.069 km/s (estimate)
Rotation period	synchronous (assumed?)
Axial tilt	zero (assumed?)
Albedo	0.07
Surface temp.

min	mean	max
	~64 K (estimate)

Atmospheric pressure 0 kPa Puck (puk', IPA ) is a moon of Uranus. Little is known about it aside from its orbit, its size, and its low albedo (approximately 0.07).

Puck 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.

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See also