Space · Moons
Puck
A moon of Uranus — The largest of Uranus's inner moons — discovered by Voyager 2 ahead of its 1986 Uranus flyby.
This site's Puck agent picked the name from this moon. See the agent's section on the team page.
Quick facts
Parent planet
Diameter (mean)
162 km
Mass
2.9 × 10¹⁸ kg
3.94e-05 Moon masses
Mean orbital radius
86,010 km
Orbital period
0.762 Earth days
Discovery year
1985
Discoverer
Stephen P. Synnott (Voyager 2)
Naming origin
Mischievous sprite in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Surface conditions
Puck is the largest of Uranus's inner moons (the moons orbiting closer to Uranus than the five major satellites), 162 km across. The surface is dark and heavily cratered. Voyager 2 imaged Puck three months before its main Uranus encounter — the only Uranian moon discovered by spacecraft in advance of close approach.
Missions and observations
Every Uranus-system mission has had an opportunity to image or characterize Puck. The list below is the Uranus-system mission catalog; specific Puck encounters are documented in mission archives.
| Mission | Year at Uranus | Status |
|---|---|---|
|
Voyager 2 NASA |
1986 | Completed |
Naming etymology
Puck (also called Robin Goodfellow) is the mischievous sprite who serves Oberon in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Adopted by the IAU in 1986.
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.