Uranus: "In 1787, a few years after discovering Uranus, William Herschel discovered two large moons orbiting the planet. Probably annoyed about having to allow the name to be changed of the planet that he had previously discovered, he decided this time to honour the greatest playwright in English history by naming the two moons after characters in one of his plays. The moons were named Titania and Oberon after the King and Queen of the Fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Again, some people (such as the German ambassador) kicked up a fuss, wanting the moons to be named after classical figures, but the names chosen by Herschel remained and the tradition of naming moons of Uranus after literary characters began. In 1851, William Lassell discovered two more large moons orbiting Uranus. These were named Ariel and Umbriel. Ariel and Umbriel are characters in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock, names chosen by Willian Herschel's son, John. These are the only two moons orbiting Uranus named after characters in non-Shakespearean plays, although one of the main characters in The Tempest by Shakespeare is also named Ariel. The next moon to be discovered was in 1948 by American astronomer Gerard Kuiper. This moon was named Miranda, another character from The Tempest. It wasn't until Voyager visited Uranus in 1986 that any more moons were discovered. All of these moons, and all moons discovered since then have been named after characters in Shakespeare's plays. Even moons yet to be discovered will be named after Shakespeare's characters. He may have knew his plays were pretty good back when he was writing them, but even Shakespeare wouldn't have imagined that his characters would one day become immortalised in worlds millions and millions of miles away from his home in Stratford!" Source and further information: http://www.bobthealien.co.uk/uranusmoons.htm Further information: - "Why are Uranus's moons named after Shakespearean characters rather than something related to Uranus?": http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970430c.html

Uranus