If the tilt arose by a violent collision, it is hard to imagine such an event not seriously affecting the orbital plane of the satellites. I think this argues very strongly for the collision having happened BEFORE the formation of the satellites, which currently orbit in a ring plane that is in the equatorial plane of Uranus, and tilted with the axis of the planet in the same way.
Above is a photo montage of the five largest satellites out of the 15 known satellites. Right to left. Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania and Oberon. The photo is NOT to scale in terms of their orbital distances and sizes.
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
Return to Ask the Astronomer.