Portia anchors a packed swarm of Uranus’s inner moons
Portia is the largest member of a tightly spaced group of small Uranian moons that orbit between the rings and Miranda, sharing a crowded dynamical neighborhood.
Mutual gravitational tugs in that swarm can shift orbits over time and may feed debris into nearby rings. Voyager revealed most of the group; later surveys refined sizes and paths.
Crowded moon packs are laboratories. Portia’s clan shows Uranus did not stop at five big icy worlds — it stuffed the inner lanes with smaller companions.
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