Discovery of Cordelia

Cordelia is a small inner moon of Uranus, about 40 kilometres across, discovered in January 1986 in images from the Voyager 2 spacecraft by Richard Terrile. It orbits very close to the planet and acts as the inner shepherd moon of the narrow epsilon ring, with its neighbour Ophelia guarding the outer edge, so that their gravity keeps the ring particles from spreading out. Cordelia is named after the youngest daughter of King Lear in Shakespeare's play. The moon is too small and faint to be seen from Earth, and Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to have flown past Uranus.

Open on the timeline