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New Uranus Image Captures Its Rings, Moons
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 07:00 am ET
22 March 2002
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Saturn is not the only planet with rings, as can be clearly seen in a new image of Uranus that was released recently by astronomers working with the Subaru Telescope Saturn is not the only planet with rings, as can be clearly seen in a new image of Uranus that was released recently by astronomers working with the Subaru Telescope. The picture shows the gaseous planet, its ring system and two of its satellites: Miranda is at the top-center of the photo; Ariel is at the bottom-left. Unlike other planets, Uranus is so far away that few good pictures of it have been taken. British astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781. He saw an object that appeared large compared to a star during observations with a homemade 6.3-inch (16-cm) telescope. The object, which was initially thought to be a comet, turned out to be a new planet outside Saturn's orbit. While Earth orbits the Sun every 365 days, Uranus trip takes about 84 years. The planet takes an elliptic path whose average radius is approximately 1.7 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers). Unlike other planets, Uranus spins on its side with respect to its orbital plane. Since 1851, over 10 satellites and 10 rings have been discovered around Uranus. The new picture was taken as part of a test of the Subaru Telescope's new Coronagraphic Imager with Adaptive Optics (CIAO) instrument combined with Subaru Telescope's adaptive optics system (AO). Adaptive optics is a system that deforms mirrors while an image is being made to compensate for natural blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere, making images clearer than would otherwise be possible. The picture was taken in July 2001 and released in February this year. It combines near-infrared images in three different filters, so the colors are not the same as what we would see in the optical. In this color scheme, methane, the dominant component of Uranus's atmosphere, shows up as blue. Scientists from several research institutes and universities, in addition to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, participated in the development of CIAO and Subaru Telescope's AO system. The team from Kobe University processed this image. The Subaru Telescope makes pictures in optical and infrared wavelengths. It sits atop the summit of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii.
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