Caliban

Caliban was discovered on September 6, 1997, by astronomers using the Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California. It derives its name from a character in William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest." Classified as an irregular moon, Caliban stands out due to its irregular shape and distant, inclined orbit around Uranus. While its exact size and mass are not precisely known, it is considered relatively small compared to Uranus's major moons. Caliban follows a peculiar retrograde orbit, meaning it orbits Uranus in the opposite direction of the planet's rotation, setting it apart from the more regular and closer-in moons of Uranus. Scientific exploration of Caliban has primarily relied on ground-based telescopes, and no dedicated missions have been launched to study it further. Its composition and origin, like many outer solar system moons, are still subjects of ongoing research, with a belief that it is primarily composed of water ice and rocky material. Caliban is part of a group of irregular moons of Uranus, and its unique orbit contributes to the complex dynamics within Uranus's moon system.