Cordelia

Cordelia

Cordelia was discovered on January 20, 1986, during the Voyager 2 spacecraft's flyby of the planet. Named after the youngest daughter of King Lear in William Shakespeare's play, this moon is relatively small, with an estimated diameter of about 40 kilometers (25 miles). Cordelia's proximity to Uranus places it within the category of "Uranian ring shepherds," where it plays a significant role in maintaining the structure of Uranus's epsilon ring and lambda ring by exerting gravitational influence. While Voyager 2's observations in 1986 provided valuable insights, no dedicated missions have since been sent to study Cordelia in more detail. As with other small Uranian moons, Cordelia's exact composition and origin remain topics of ongoing research, with hypotheses suggesting a mix of water ice and rocky material. Cordelia belongs to the "Cordelia Group," which includes similar moons with comparable orbits, such as Ophelia, which also contributes to shepherding Uranus's rings.