Largest moon of UranusA canyon world at the edge of knowledge
Titania
Titania is Uranus's largest moon, carved by enormous valleys and waiting for its first dedicated orbital explorer.
- Host
- Uranus
- Type
- Large icy moon
- Mean diameter
- 1,578 km
- Mean orbital radius
- 435,900 km
- Orbital period
- 8.71 days
- Surface gravity
- 0.367 m/s²
- Key feature
- Messina Chasma
- Discovered
- 1787 · William Herschel
Titania up close
NASA imagery
Canyons and craters
Titania's surface combines heavily cratered terrain with broad canyons that cut across older units. Messina Chasma extends for roughly 1,500 kilometres.
The canyons probably formed as the moon's interior expanded and froze, stretching its outer ice shell. Bright frost on some slopes suggests exposure or migration of material.
Could an ocean survive?
Radiogenic heat and tidal interactions may have supported an ocean early in Titania's history. Whether it persists today depends on the moon's internal structure and heat budget.
As Uranus approaches its next planetary decadal survey priorities, Titania and the other large Uranian moons are strong targets for an orbiter.
Worth knowing
Titania was discovered by William Herschel in 1787.
It is named after the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The moon's canyons may have formed when a subsurface ocean began to freeze.
Watch and explore
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Uranus's Weird Moon Titania ASTRO ALEXANDRA
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Research & further reading
Mission imagery and measurements are interpreted alongside orbital data. Follow the source links for the current NASA overview and precise satellite parameters.