Ariel
The brightest and youngest looking Uranian surface, resurfaced long after it formed.
Where it is right now
Ariel is in Taurus, 19.9 AU away.
Computed for 2 August 2026, 17:00 UTC, and recomputed at least hourly. This page is cached, so treat the line above as accurate to the hour rather than to the second. The map shows the live position.
Position from a Kepler propagation of the published elements below, accurate to about an arcminute.
Facts
Every line carries the source it came from.
- Mean radius
- 578.9 kmSource: NASA/JPL Planetary Satellite Physical Parameters
- Orbits
- Uranus, 190,929 km out on averageSource: NASA/JPL Planetary Satellite Mean Elements
- Orbital period
- 2.52 daysSource: NASA/JPL Planetary Satellite Mean Elements
- Orbit shape
- eccentricity 0.0010, inclined 0.00 degrees to Uranus's equatorSource: NASA/JPL Planetary Satellite Mean Elements
- Discovered
- 1851 by W. LassellSource: NASA/JPL Planetary Satellite Discovery Circumstances
Physical size
- Mean radius
- 579 km
- Diameter
- 1,158 km across
Orbit
Elements are relative to Uranus.
- Average distance from Uranus
- 190,929 km
- Eccentricity
- 0.0010, almost perfectly circular
- Inclination to Uranus's reference plane
- 97.72 degrees
- Orbital period
- 2.5 days
- Longitude of ascending node
- 167.65 degrees
- Argument of periapsis
- 4.54 degrees
- Mean anomaly at J2000.0
- 193.50 degrees
Family
Orbits Uranus.
Claim this body
$49 once, and it stays yours
Io, Europa, Titan, Triton and the rest. Sixteen exist, ever.
A claim is a listing on this map. Not an IAU designation. Permanent, with one disclosed exception for dead links: see the terms.
Catalog id ariel. 3,172 objects on the map, of which 171 are hand-authored with sourced facts.