Universe & space

Discovery of Bianca

23 January 1986

Bianca is a small inner moon of Uranus, found in images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft as it flew past the planet. It orbits close to the planet within a tightly packed group of inner moons along with Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet and Portia. Like the other moons of Uranus, it is named after a character from the works of William Shakespeare, in this case the sister of Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew. Voyager 2 saw it only as a faint, elongated body, so little is known about its surface, though it is probably a dark object made of water ice mixed with darker material.

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