Aster › Space program › Cordelia
Cordelia
Position on the route: 62/130 · level needed 181 · journey (Mk0 engine) 38.1 h
By the numbers
| Diameter | ≈ 40 km |
|---|---|
| Year | 8.04 hours |
| Distance | 49,800 km |
| Found | 1986, Voyager 2 |
The story
Cordelia is Uranus’s innermost known moon; Voyager 2 found it in 1986. The inner shepherd of Uranus’s ε ring, it keeps the ring sharp-edged together with its outer shepherd Ophelia. Named for the youngest daughter in Shakespeare’s King Lear.
Only 40 km, very faint and dark; it circles faster than Uranus itself turns (every 8 hours). The orbits of the inner moons here are unstable: within millions of years they may collide.
Missions
- Voyager 2 (1986): discovery
Colony note
Tiny and close to the ring; observation.
What probes bring back
- Uranus’s innermost known moon (≈ 40 km), the inner shepherd of the ε ring; found by Voyager 2 (1986).
- It circles in only 8 hours and keeps Uranus’s ring in place.