The hubbub about Uranus' transit through Pisces aside, here's some other news about the seventh planet.
"Even though the Voyager 2 spacecraft paid a close-up visit to Uranus in 1986, the distant planet continues to reveal surprises... Hubble's high sensitivity and sharp view has uncovered a pair of giant rings girdling the planet. The largest is twice the diameter of the plane's previously known ring system, first discovered in the late 1970s.
"Hubble also spied two small satellites, named Mab and Cupid. One of the satellites shares an orbit with the outermost of the new rings. The satellite is probably the source of fresh dust that keeps replenishing the ring with new material, which is likely knocked off from meteoroid impacts... Collectively, these new discoveries mean that Uranus has a youthful and dynamic system of rings and moons."
The hubbub about Uranus' transit through Pisces aside, here's some other news about the seventh planet.
mr damon, 15:48
2 Comments:
as a moon lover, i was mostly interested in this remark: "youthful and dynamic system of rings and moons"
does that mean, that moons keeps being created there? and we can learn a lot about moons -origins?
I think that it means the rings continue to be added to. This was the sentence I excised: "Without such [meteroid-impact] replenishment, the dust in the ring would slowly spiral in toward Uranus."
From the full release on the recent Uranus observations: "
"'The detection of these new interacting rings and moons will help us better understand how planetary systems are formed and sustained, which is of key importance to NASA's scientific exploration goals,' said Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, program scientist for Hubble at NASA Headquarters."
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