Faint rings seen on planet Uranus
January 3rd 2008 05:37
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Planet Saturn is not the only planet in our solar system to have rings. Saturn and Neptune also have a ring system. Perhaps not as well known as Saturn, Uranus has some very interesting all-be-it faint rings. A rare edge on alignment of planet's rings reveals the inner ones to Earth based telescopes.
The rings of Uranus have swung to give us much better look since they were first discovered some 30 years ago. The alignment has given astronomers a unique opportunity to study fine dust floating in the ring system, revealing enormous changes to the rings since the early 1970s more than a dozen rings have become visible.
Normally, the glare from sunlight reflecting off the largest rings makes it impossible for Earth-based telescopes to see the faint glow from small dust particles. But now astronomers have had their first clear view of this dust thanks to a rare alignment of the rings that makes them edge-on to Earth. The alignment makes the normally bright outer rings fainter because their large rocks obscure one another, while dim inner rings get brighter as their dust merges into a thin band along the line of sight. A series of images taken every 2 years from 2003 onwards show the rings in more detail as they move from being seen side on to almost edge on.
The planet has other unique characteristics for example Uranus is tilted so far on its side that its axis lays nearly level with its path around the sun. The tilt of Earth's axis is about 23 1/2. But Uranus's axis tilts 98 degrees the planets axis may have knocked over to its side soon after the planet formed.
The rings of Uranus have swung to give us much better look since they were first discovered some 30 years ago. The alignment has given astronomers a unique opportunity to study fine dust floating in the ring system, revealing enormous changes to the rings since the early 1970s more than a dozen rings have become visible.
Normally, the glare from sunlight reflecting off the largest rings makes it impossible for Earth-based telescopes to see the faint glow from small dust particles. But now astronomers have had their first clear view of this dust thanks to a rare alignment of the rings that makes them edge-on to Earth. The alignment makes the normally bright outer rings fainter because their large rocks obscure one another, while dim inner rings get brighter as their dust merges into a thin band along the line of sight. A series of images taken every 2 years from 2003 onwards show the rings in more detail as they move from being seen side on to almost edge on.
The planet has other unique characteristics for example Uranus is tilted so far on its side that its axis lays nearly level with its path around the sun. The tilt of Earth's axis is about 23 1/2. But Uranus's axis tilts 98 degrees the planets axis may have knocked over to its side soon after the planet formed.
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