Prospero

Prospero was discovered on July 18, 1999, by astronomers using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. This moon derives its name from the character Prospero in William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest." Prospero is categorized as an irregular moon, characterized by its irregular shape and its distant, inclined orbit around Uranus. Prospero is generally considered relatively small compared to Uranus's major moons. What distinguishes Prospero and its counterparts among Uranus's moons is their retrograde orbits, meaning they travel in the opposite direction of the planet's rotation. Scientific exploration of Prospero has predominantly relied on ground-based telescopes. Its composition and origin, like those of other moons in the Uranian system, are believed to be primarily composed of water ice and rocky material. The prevailing hypothesis is that moons like Prospero might have been captured from more distant regions. Prospero is a member of a group of irregular moons of Uranus, sharing its irregular shape and retrograde orbit with other moons like Caliban, Sycorax, and Stephano.