Setebos (moon)

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/setebos-moon

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the parent planet?Uranus
2. What is the diameter?Approximately 48 kilometers (30 miles)
3. What is Setebos?Setebos is a tiny moon of Uranus that orbits in the opposite direction of the planet’s rotation. It is about 48 km wide and looks irregular because it is too small to be round.
4. Why does Setebos spin backward around Uranus?Setebos moves backward because it was captured by Uranus, not born with the planet. Its orbit is tilted and stretched, showing it came from elsewhere.

Retrograde Orbit: An orbit in the opposite direction to the primary body's rotation, often indicative of capture.
Satellite Capture: The process by which a planet's gravity seizes an independent celestial body, making it orbit.
Orbital Inclination: The angle between an object's orbital plane and a reference plane, like a planet's equator.
Prograde Orbit: An orbit in the same direction as the primary body's rotation.