Changes

=== Transits of Uranus ===

=== Transits of Uranus ===

[[Image:Ariel transit.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Uranus with Ariel (white) and its shadow (black) at upper right]]

[[Image:Ariel transit.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Uranus with Ariel (white) and its shadow (black) at upper right]]

Ariel is rarely able to transit the surface of Uranus in such a manner as to cast a shadow on it. This is because Ariel, like all the moons of Uranus, is in an orbit with an almost perpendicular inclination to the ecliptic. Such transits usually occur only in years close to Uranian equinoxes. One such transit occurred on July 26, 2006; the [[Hubble Space Telescope]] captured that transit on the image at the left. The white dot in the upper-right-hand quadrant of Uranus is Ariel itself; the black dot is its shadow.<ref name=transit>http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/42/image/a Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus]." News Release STScI-2006-42, August 31, 2006. Accessed June 13, 2008.</ref>

Ariel is rarely able to transit the surface of Uranus in such a manner as to cast a shadow on it. This is because Ariel, like all the moons of Uranus, is in an orbit with an almost perpendicular inclination to the ecliptic. Such transits usually occur only in years close to Uranian equinoxes. One such transit occurred on July 26, 2006; the [[Hubble Space Telescope]] captured that transit on the image at the left. The white dot in the upper-right-hand quadrant of Uranus is Ariel itself; the black dot is its shadow.<ref name=transit>"[http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/42/image/a Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus]." News Release STScI-2006-42, August 31, 2006. Accessed June 13, 2008.</ref>

== Rotational characteristics ==

== Rotational characteristics ==