Puck🌙

Puck is a small inner moon of Uranus, discovered in 1985 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, and is about 162 kilometers in diameter, making it one of the larger moons among Uranus’s inner group but still much smaller than the major satellites. It orbits the planet at roughly 86,000 kilometers and has a dark, heavily cratered surface that reflects very little sunlight, suggesting it is made of carbon-rich material mixed with ice. Puck’s roundish but slightly irregular shape and its lack of noticeable geological features indicate that it has remained largely unchanged since the early history of the Solar System. Because it lies between the orbits of the moons Portia and Miranda, Puck may act as a stabilizing body within Uranus’s tightly packed inner moon system. Observations show no signs of tectonic activity or resurfacing, meaning it is likely a cold, inert world that has preserved its ancient landscape for billions of years. Like many of Uranus’s moons, Puck takes its name from Shakespeare—in this case the mischievous fairy from A Midsummer Night’s Dream—fitting its small, elusive nature.