Sycorax (moon) - Physical Characteristics

Physical Characteristics

The diameter of Sycorax is estimated at 150 km (assuming albedo of 0.04) making it the largest irregular satellite of Uranus, comparable in size with Puck and with Himalia, the biggest irregular satellite of Jupiter.

The satellite appears light-red in the visible light (colour indices B–V = 0.87 V–R = 0.44, B–V = 0.78 ± 0.02 V–R = 0.62 ± 0.01, B–V = 0.839 ± 0.014 V–R = 0.531 ± 0.005) redder than Himalia but still less red than most Kuiper belt objects. However in the near infrared the spectrum turns blue between 0.8 and 1.25 μm and finally becomes neutral at the longer wavelengths.

The rotation period of Sycorax is estimated at about 3.6 hours. Rotation causes periodical variations of the visible magnitude with the amplitude of 0.07.

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