Portia is one of the inner moons of Uranus, discovered in January 1986 in images taken by Voyager 2 and credited to Stephen Synnott. It is about 135 kilometres across, among the larger of the planet's inner moons, and it orbits close to the rings. The moon is dark and probably consists of water ice mixed with a dark material, and it appears to be elongated in shape. Portia is named after the heroine of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in keeping with the tradition of naming the moons of Uranus after characters from works by Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. It gives its name to a group of closely packed inner moons that may collide with each other over time.
Before and after
- 1986Rise of Slow Food
- 1986Construction of Faisal Mosque
- from 1986 to 1989Anfal campaign
- 3 January 1986Discovery of Juliet
- 3 January 1986Discovery of Portia
- 9 January 1986Discovery of Cressida
- 13 January 1986Discovery of Desdemona
- 13 January 1986Discovery of Rosalind
- 13 January 1986Discovery of Belinda
More in Universe & space
- 22 October 1969Discovery of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
- 30 September 1975Discovery of Themisto
- 24 May 1981Discovery of Larissa
- 22 August 1981Discovery of Pan
- 18 September 1989Discovery of Naiad
- 26 June 2012Discovery of Styx
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.