URANUS SYSTEM / SATELLITE DOSSIER

Belinda

Belinda is a dark elongated inner moon of Uranus, following a path just inside the smaller moon Perdita.

Moon view ↗

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Artist’s impression of Belinda

Belinda is a dark elongated inner moon of Uranus, following a path just inside the smaller moon Perdita.

Environment ↗

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DIAMETER / EARTH0.0063×
EARTHBELINDA
ATMOSPHERE
No substantial atmosphere detectedEffectively airless
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
Cold exposed surface
SURFACE PRESSURE
Effectively airless
HABITABILITYNo life detected
UNPROTECTED HUMANSNot survivable

Interior ↗

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Belinda interiorBelinda's internal structure is unresolved.Unresolved

Moon system ↗

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Uranus moon orbitsSelected moons, ordered outward. Orbit sizes and positions are schematic; relative periods are preserved.URANUSCORDELIAOPHELIABIANCACRESSIDADESDEMONAJULIETPORTIAROSALINDCUPIDBELINDAPERDITAPUCKMABMIRANDAARIELUMBRIELTITANIAOBERON

Landscape ↗

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A speculative ground-level view on Belinda. The fragments, depressions and distant relief are artistic reconstructions.
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Rotation ↗

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Belinda rotation compared with EarthThe markers follow equal elapsed time on both worlds. Equal elapsed time and sidereal rotation rates. Polar schematic: sizes, axial tilt and seasons are not shown. Illumination uses a circular mean orbit, not a live sky prediction.SAME ELAPSED TIME · POLAR SCHEMATICBELINDA15.0 hoursSIDEREAL ROTATIONRetrograde spinEARTH23.9 hoursSIDEREAL ROTATION≈ 24 h · solar day

Gravity ↗

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GRAVITY UNKNOWNMASS UNCERTAIN

Orbit ↗

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Belinda orbitElliptical orbit viewed along the orbital axis, relative to Uranus. Motion is accelerated, not a live position. Distances are center to center.URANUSBELINDA≈ 75,258 km
Sources ↗
BELINDA

Instrument detail

THE SKY FROM BELINDA

Uranus, in perspective.

SHARED ANGULAR SCALE
Uranus compared with Luna in Earth's skyAt semimajor-axis distance, Uranus spans approximately 39.73 degrees, 76.71 times the apparent diameter of Luna at its mean distance from Earth. Both disks share one angular scale.URANUSOUR MOON≈ 0.52°
Idealized size study · full disks · decorative lighting · rings excluded
ANGULAR DIAMETER
39.73°
OUR MOON'S APPARENT DIAMETER
76.71 ×
CENTER-TO-CENTER DISTANCE
75,258 km

The viewpoint is on Belinda’s nominal spherical surface, directly facing Uranus. The reference is Luna seen from Earth’s center at its mean distance. The reference distance is the orbit’s semimajor axis. Rounded body diameters and orbital elements set the disk sizes; terrain, phases, rings and the actual sky position are not modeled.

Explore Uranus ↗
Belinda orbitElliptical orbit viewed along the orbital axis, relative to Uranus. Motion is accelerated, not a live position. Distances are center to center.URANUSBELINDA≈ 75,258 km
ONE ORBIT0.6236 Earth days around Uranus
Closest to Uranus
75,107 km
Farthest from Uranus
75,409 km

Belinda circles Uranus. Distances are measured between the centers of the two bodies.

This URA184 mean-element path omits inclination, precession, ring dynamics and perturbations. It is not a live position prediction.

Belinda rotation compared with EarthThe markers follow equal elapsed time on both worlds. Equal elapsed time and sidereal rotation rates. Polar schematic: sizes, axial tilt and seasons are not shown. Illumination uses a circular mean orbit, not a live sky prediction.SAME ELAPSED TIME · POLAR SCHEMATICBELINDA15.0 hoursSIDEREAL ROTATIONRetrograde spinEARTH23.9 hoursSIDEREAL ROTATION≈ 24 h · solar day
Marked longitude · equal time on both worlds
ONE SIDEREAL ROTATION15.0 hours

An approximately synchronous model

The standard orientation model is approximately synchronous, with one turn per orbit in the direction of Uranus’s rotation. This rate comparison omits axial tilt and small orientation variations.

0 Earth hoursShared clock

Spin comparison only; no solar day is inferred. Sizes and starting longitudes are schematic, not live positions.

Satellite atlasMoons
Uranus moon orbitsSelected moons, ordered outward. Orbit sizes and positions are schematic; relative periods are preserved.URANUSCORDELIAOPHELIABIANCACRESSIDADESDEMONAJULIETPORTIAROSALINDCUPIDBELINDAPERDITAPUCKMABMIRANDAARIELUMBRIELTITANIAOBERON
FEATURED MOONS18
  1. 01Cordelia ↗0.3347 days
  2. 02Ophelia ↗0.3764 days
  3. 03Bianca ↗0.4347 days
  4. 04Cressida ↗0.4639 days
  5. 05Desdemona ↗0.4736 days
  6. 06Juliet ↗0.4931 days
  7. 07Portia ↗0.5132 days
  8. 08Rosalind ↗0.5583 days
  9. 09Cupid ↗0.6125 days
  10. 10Belinda0.6236 days
  11. 11Perdita ↗0.6382 days
  12. 12Puck ↗0.761833 days
  13. 13Mab ↗0.9229 days
  14. 14Miranda ↗1.41 days
  15. 15Ariel ↗2.5204 days
  16. 16Umbriel ↗4.1442 days
  17. 17Titania ↗8.7059 days
  18. 18Oberon ↗13.4632 days

Faint rings and a family of moons surround Uranus. Many of those moons take their names from characters in Shakespeare and Alexander Pope. One journey around the Sun lasts about 84 Earth years.

GRAVITY UNKNOWNMASS UNCERTAIN
SURFACE GRAVITYUnknown

Mass remains uncertain

The cited mass estimate assumes a density. No measured mass is adopted, so the numerical gravity comparison is omitted.

Belinda interiorBelinda's internal structure is unresolved.Unresolved

Beyond the surface

Belinda’s interior remains unresolved. The available observations do not establish distinct layers or a present-day ocean.

    Artist’s impression of Belinda

    An irregular companion found by Voyager.

    Belinda was discovered on January 13, 1986 in Voyager 2 images. The spacecraft’s brief passage revealed the moon without providing a detailed survey of its surface.

    One diameter cannot describe every angle.

    The adopted equivalent diameter is about 81 kilometers, derived from an ellipsoidal volume estimate. Belinda’s elongated form has a larger longest dimension. Its interior arrangement remains unresolved.

    Around Uranus in about fifteen hours.

    The adopted mean path has a 75,258-kilometer scale and a period of 0.6236 Earth days. The orbit instrument does not integrate interactions with Perdita or other nearby satellites.

    A name borrowed from Alexander Pope.

    Originally S/1986 U5, Belinda was named after the character whose lock of hair is stolen in Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock. It is one of the Uranian moons with a literary name outside Shakespeare’s plays.

    DIAMETER / EARTH0.0063×
    EARTHBELINDA
    EARTH
    12,742 km
    BELINDA
    80.6 km
    Mean diameters · circles share one scale

    Approximately 80.6 km, derived from the ellipsoidal volume in French et al. (2024), Table 3; not the longest dimension.

    ATMOSPHERE
    No substantial atmosphere detectedEffectively airless

    Belinda is effectively airless. No substantial atmosphere is known.

    SURFACE TEMPERATURE
    Cold exposed surface
    SURFACE PRESSURE
    Effectively airless
    HABITABILITYNo life detected

    No life has been detected, and a habitable environment has not been established.

    UNPROTECTED HUMANSNot survivable

    The exposed surface requires oxygen, pressure protection and thermal control.

    Planet and landscape images are artistic interpretations.

    • NASA ↗
      • Classification and orbital data
      • Rotation and internal structure constraints
      • Natural conditions and human survival
      • Discovery
      • Name
    • NASA ↗
      • Parent-body diameter for the angular sky comparison
    • arxiv.org ↗
      • Mass and gravity constraints
      • Size, physical data and atmospheric constraints
      • Shape
    • NASA / JPL ↗
      • Mean orbital dimensions; distances from parent center
      • Orbit
    • naif.jpl.nasa.gov ↗
      • Rotation model and synchronous or independent spin
    A speculative ground-level view on Belinda. The fragments, depressions and distant relief are artistic reconstructions.

    Across an imagined hollow

    A speculative ground-level view on Belinda. The fragments, depressions and distant relief are artistic reconstructions.

    An imagined landscape on Belinda. Neither local terrain nor illumination reproduces a spacecraft panorama.

    Along a low rise

    An imagined landscape on Belinda. Neither local terrain nor illumination reproduces a spacecraft panorama.

    An elongated dark slab with jagged breaks and scattered small chips. An artistic reconstruction of Belinda; local detail, lighting and viewpoint are imagined.

    Surface fragments in close view

    An elongated dark slab with jagged breaks and scattered small chips. An artistic reconstruction of Belinda; local detail, lighting and viewpoint are imagined.