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Ariel is the fourth-largest of the 27 known moons of Uranus. Ariel orbits and rotates in the equatorial plane of Uranus, which is almost perpendicular to the orbit of Uranus, and so has an extreme seasonal cycle. It was discovered in October 1851 by William Lassell, and named for a character in two different pieces of literature. As of 2012, much of the detailed knowledge of Ariel derives from a single flyby of Uranus performed by the spacecraft ''Voyager 2'' in 1986, which managed to image around 35% of the moon's surface. There are no active plans at present to return to study the moon in more detail, although various concepts such as a Uranus orbiter and probe are proposed from time to time. After Miranda, Ariel is the second-smallest of Uranus' five major rounded satellites, and the second-closest to its planet. Among the smallest of the Solar System's 19 known spherical moons (it ranks 14th among them in diameter), it is believed to be composed of roughly equal parts ice and rocky material. Like all of Uranus' moons, Ariel probably formed from an accretion disc that surrounded the planet shortly after its formation, and, like other large moons, it is likely differentiated, with an inner core of rock surrounded by a mantle of ice. Ariel has a complex surface consisting of extensive cratered terrain cross-cut by a system of scarps, canyons and ridges. The surface shows signs of more recent geological activity than other Uranian moons, most likely due to tidal heating. == Discovery and name == Discovered on 24 October 1851 by William Lassell, it is named for a sky spirit in Alexander Pope's ''The Rape of the Lock'' and Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''. Both Ariel and the slightly larger Uranian satellite Umbriel were discovered by William Lassell on 24 October 1851.〔〔 Although William Herschel, who discovered Uranus's two largest moons Titania and Oberon in 1787, claimed to have observed four additional moons,〔 this was never confirmed and those four objects are now thought to be spurious.〔〔〔 All of Uranus's moons are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare or Alexander Pope's ''The Rape of the Lock''. The names of all four satellites of Uranus then known were suggested by John Herschel in 1852 at the request of Lassell.〔 Ariel is named after the leading sylph in ''The Rape of the Lock''.〔 It is also the name of the spirit who serves Prospero in Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''.〔 The moon is also designated Uranus I.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ariel (moon)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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