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Birth of Shakespeare Many Moons Ago Celebrated in Space

© NASAUsing the Hubble Space Telescope and improved ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered a total of 27 known moons around Uranus.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope and improved ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered a total of 27 known moons around Uranus. - Sputnik International
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While the world gears up to celebrate the life of William Shakespeare, Britain's most famous playwright, his contribution to Earth is also being commemorated many moons away in the Solar System.

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With the exception of Earth, all of the planets in our solar system are named after Greek or Roman gods. Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty; Mars, the Roman god of war; Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld; and Uranus, an ancient Greek deity of the heavens, to name just a few.

However, the moons orbiting Uranus are unique in that their names are taken from literary genius William Shakespeare. Astronomers have discovered a total of 27 moons orbiting Uranus.

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Miranda and Ariel take their names from the play, 'The Tempest'. The solar system's Miranda is the smallest moon of the five major satellites.

Ariel is the brightest and possibly the youngest surface among all the moons of Uranus.

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Oberon, which takes its name from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is an old heavily cratered moon orbiting Uranus.

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Cordelia — a shepherd moon is named after the play 'King Lear' and helps to keep Uranus' outer ring well defined.

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Ophelia, also a shepherd moon, takes its name from 'Hamlet'. Between Cordelia, Ophelia and Miranda, is a swarm of crowded satellites.

NASA's chief scientist Ellen Stofan has decided to share her thoughts on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 1616.

"I find the timeless appeal and relevance of Shakespeare the same thing that I actually love about the study of our Earth, our solar system and our universe. We need Shakespeare, we need the arts, and we need design, to understand our world and beyond," Dr Stofan writes.

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