There's a ring around Uranus!

*** ATTENTION ***

next off topic post gets you post banned.

The title killed this thread However, beautiful photos....I love seeing these kinds of pics!

that's awesome. thanks for posting, i just want to add that i think uranus has a beautiful ring.

lmfao I love how the majority of the comments in this thread were off topic posts that were probably anus jokes before they were removied
but hey second line and this is interesting info. thanks

This sort of thread is why I come to ATS. Beautiful images. Uranus is so large, and yet so distant. It's actually quite a lovely thing to behold. I was however already aware that there was a ring around Uranus. Not because I had seen an image of it, but because I have read about it. Quite charming.

Ever since the Voyager 2 flyby demonstrated that Uranus was a “strange beast,” said Fran Bagenal, a planetary scientist with the University of Colorado in Boulder, “we’ve been really keen to get a better view. This was a very clever way of looking at that.”

op source



Be nice to get a robotic probe out there can check it out more thoroughly. It doesn't have the promising moons of Jupiter and Saturn or Saturn's flamboyant rings and it seems so almost featureless to look at that Uranus often gets ignored Makes you wonder what we might be missing by judging it from its cover.

Originally posted by lifeform11
that's awesome. thanks for posting, i just want to add that i think uranus has a beautiful ring.

Thank you,
It makes you wonder what the composition of the rings are.
I wonder if it could be crystals of frozen methane.

Originally posted by iforget

Ever since the Voyager 2 flyby demonstrated that Uranus was a “strange beast,” said Fran Bagenal, a planetary scientist with the University of Colorado in Boulder, “we’ve been really keen to get a better view. This was a very clever way of looking at that.”

op source

Be nice to get a robotic probe out there can check it out more thoroughly. It doesn't have the promising moons of Jupiter and Saturn or Saturn's flamboyant rings and it seems so almost featureless to look at that Uranus often gets ignored Makes you wonder what we might be missing by judging it from its cover.

I would like to know more about the polar magnetic properties and the axis rotation of Uranus.

reply to post by Violater1

More than 160 scientists are backing the Uranus Pathfinder project which is led by Dr Chris Arridge, of University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey.

“We’ve only really scratched the surface of Uranus. It is very difficult to observe from Earth because any detail is smeared out. “Since Voyager flew by we know the rings and atmosphere have changed. We need close-up measurements. Uranus is ripe for learning a lot from. It is so different among the planets." “When you go to Uranus and Neptune you find their composition is dominated a lot more by rock and ice. There is a lot more water in their atmospheres, a lot more methane.”“ It is thought that something the size of Mars or Earth hit Uranus early in the solar system and tilted it into its side

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There is some interest in a Probe as far as I know nothing has gotten past those tricky initial negotiations. We will probably have to wait for budgets to loosen up a bit and grease the way there. How do you knock a gas giant on its side anyway that seems weird to me?

reply to post by iforget

Thank you for that other source to Uranus.
Here is another picture of Uranus, it seems like we have barely scratched it's surface.

This one shows more pinkish eruptions on it's end.

All the off-topic posts from page one made me LOL!

Interesting factoid, never knew this, thanks.

reply to post by Violater1

I assume then that these are the polar regions, and the position of the rings must be an illusion.

Well....assuming is something that will lead to false conclusions, usually.

The existence of faint rings around the planet "Sol 7" (how's that for a "new" name, uh?? Following on the fictional show Star Trek for a planetary naming method.....) ....their existence has been know. The newest images are more clear than ever before, though. If I recall correctly, some deep-space probes that have passed by in the past have imaged them too.

But, anyhow.....most who are well-versed in astronomy, and especially our own Solar System, know that our seventh planet is rotating on an axis that is nearly 90° off from the rest...on its "side", so to speak, relative to "North", and to its direction on orbit. So, in that sense, the rings (presuming....not "assuming", but close) the images presented are oriented with "North" at the top of the photo, then the ring orientation would be roughly equatorial, based on the planet's odd axial tilt.

The measurement of the magnetic field, and its extreme variance to the rotational axis, is fascinating however....still shows that science continues to march forward, and proves the reason for constantly striving to study, and learn more.

reply to post by Violater1

What is the source for this image? I've only seen pics of a beautiful blue ball before so seeing this with what appears to be something on fire and a huge halo (unless computer generated) seems a bit odd at the very least.

Originally posted by LightSpeedDriver
reply to post by Violater1

 

What is the source for this image? I've only seen pics of a beautiful blue ball before so seeing this with what appears to be something on fire and a huge halo (unless computer generated) seems a bit odd at the very least.

More on Uranus here
www.skymania.com...

How do you knock a gas giant on its side anyway that seems weird to me?

Hit it with something very large......like another planet. If that was the case, any original moons would have been destroyed, or ejected from the system. The new ones will have formed out of debris from the colossal impact that knocked the planet on its side (the small inner satellites, and the big ones out to Oberon), or are captured Centaur asteroids (the small outer moons with irregular and/or retrograde orbits).

reply to post by Violater1


I found these old photos of Uranus. The bright white spots and a dull spot can be seen in the 2005 photo.

images.sciencedaily.com...

''There's a ring around Uranus!''

I am looking at my anus right now, and it doesn't seems to have a ring around it...

Seriously: Beautifull photos. You have a great knowledge of Uranus. Congratulations. A star and flag.

Originally posted by Violater1
The Hubble Space Telescope, captured images of glowing dots on Uranus as well as a faint ring. Theses dots are thought to be auroras caused by our Sun’s CME’s.
I assume then that these are the polar regions, and the position of the rings must be an illusion.

Or, that these are not auroras at all, butt something different. Perhaps an atmospheric explosion?

Also, in an era in which we defined Pluto as being a sub-planet or non-planet, you would think we could rename Uranus to something that wouldn’t evoke anal jokes.
And that’s the bottom line.

www.agu.org...

Could not we call ''Uranus'' Ouranos?

The explosion do looks like an explosion. It seem very far from polar region. Methane explosion, perhaps??

reply to post by swan001


What led you to the assumption that there was an "explosion"??

(Or, are you making another silly joke??)

(Trying to, once again....."imply" 'anus' with the spelling of the planet's name.....???? ....... "URANUS" ???)

.......merely because of the "unfortunate" similarity with a few letters from the 'English' alphabet??

It is pronounced "YOUR-uh-nus".

Always has been pronounced that way.

The 'emphasis' on the first SYLLABLE>


OK???