Umbriel
Source: NASA
Tell me this: have you ever heard of a moon that is as dark as a shadow, has a “fluorescent cheerio” and is mostly a mystery because the only info known about it is from 1986?
If your answer is yes: dammit, you are good. If your answer is no: you’re about to. Meet UMBRIEL, a moon who almost has a twin sister (remember Ariel). Umbriel is named after a “dusky evil sprite” from a poem by Shakespeare and I have to say… it is quite fitting. Some of you may know this, but Uranus is tilted on its axis by 97.77 degrees- as in it rotates on its side!!! No other planet does this, we think it got knocked on its side a super long time ago by something massive?!??! But because of this, its hemispheres experiences extreme seasons: 42 yearlong seasons!! And just like their mama, Uranus’ moons do the same thing. Half of their body immersed in 42 years of light, 42 years of dark. Can you even imagine?! Umbriel, in its dark mysteriousness, is actually pretty dark. So dark, that if it were to be in a contest for Uranus’s Darkest Moon, it would win (seriously). And when I say pretty dark, I mean only 16% of the light that hits it gets reflected. Why this moon is basically a little shadow is a mystery to scientists (we haven’t been there since Voyager 2’s mission in 1986). There is one feature that stands out when you look at the not-so-great photos we have of this moon: a dang fluorescent cheerio. Not really, but what is assumed to be a ring of frost has accumulated on the moon, making it its most prominent feature and what I like to think of as a little anomaly-beauty mark. Talking internally, this moon is composed of what we believe to be half water ice, half rock. There are a lot of theories out there about additional components of what this moon is made up of, but for now they are just that: theory. When orbiting up and over Uranus (like how our moon orbits the earth: one side always facing towards the planet) it takes Umbriel approximately 4 days to make the trek. This satellite’s ambiance is that of an evil, dusky and shrouded personality- but to me, I look at it as an opportunity. We haven’t visited our outer planets since the Voyager days, in the eighties. There is so much to be known and explored about moons like Umbriel and its planet Uranus. One day I hope to have higher resolution photos to paint from of the outer reaches of the solar system + beyond. For now, this is our portrait of Umbriel, third moon of Uranus.