Quick facts
Parent planet
Diameter (mean)
20 km
Mass
5.4 × 10¹⁵ kg
7.4e-08 Moon masses
Mean orbital radius
14,345,000 km
Orbital period
1694.8 Earth days
Discovery year
2003
Discoverer
Scott S. Sheppard et al.
Naming origin
Character in Much Ado About Nothing
Surface conditions
Margaret is unique among Uranus's irregular moons in having a prograde orbit — every other Uranian irregular orbits retrograde. The reason is unsettled; the leading hypothesis is that Margaret was captured separately from the retrograde cluster.
Missions and observations
Every Uranus-system mission has had an opportunity to image or characterize Margaret. The list below is the Uranus-system mission catalog; specific Margaret encounters are documented in mission archives.
| Mission | Year at Uranus | Status |
|---|---|---|
|
Voyager 2 NASA |
1986 | Completed |
Naming etymology
Margaret was a character in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing — a gentlewoman attending Hero, accidentally implicated in the misunderstanding that drives the plot. Adopted by the IAU in 2003.
Methodology & sources
Diameter, mass, and orbital parameters from JPL Solar System Dynamics — Physical Parameters. Discovery year and discoverer from the JPL Satellite Discovery Circumstances. Naming etymology from the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. Stylized SVG hero composed from NASA / JPL imagery as visual reference; no photographs are reproduced.