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Hubble Captures Full View of …
title Hubble Captures Full View of Uranus's Rings on Edge
date 08.14.2007
description NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures a rare view of the entire ring system of the planet Uranus, tilted edge-on to Earth. The rings were photographed with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on August 14, 2007. The edge-on rings appear as spikes above and below the planet. The rings cannot be seen running fully across the face of the planet because the bright glare of the planet has been blocked out in the HST photo (a small amount of residual glare appears as a fan-shaped image artifact, along with an edge between the exposure for the inner and outer rings). A much shorter color exposure of the planet has been photo-composited to show its size and position relative to the ring plane. Earthbound astronomers only see the rings' edge every 42 years as the planet follows a leisurely 84-year orbit about the Sun. However, the last time the rings were tilted edge-on to Earth astronomers didn't even know they existed. The fainter outer rings appear in the 2003 Hubble Space Telescope images, but were not noticed there until they were seen in the 2005 images and the previous ones were analyzed more carefully. Uranus has a total of 13 dusty rings. Credit: NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ], ESA [ http://www.spacetelescope.org/ ], and M. Showalter (SETI Institute)
Hubble Captures Detailed Ima …
title Hubble Captures Detailed Image of Uranus' Atmosphere
date 07.03.1995
description Hubble Space Telescope has peered deep into Uranus' atmosphere to see clear and hazy layers created by a mixture of gases. Using infrared filters, Hubble captured detailed features of three layers of Uranus' atmosphere. Hubble's images are different from the ones taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew by Uranus 10 years ago. Those images - not taken in infrared light - showed a greenish-blue disk with very little detail. The infrared image allows astronomers to probe the structure of Uranus' atmosphere, which consists of mostly hydrogen with traces of methane. The red around the planet's edge represents a very thin haze at a high altitude. The haze is so thin that it can only be seen by looking at the edges of the disk, and is similar to looking at the edge of a soap bubble. The yellow near the bottom of Uranus is another hazy layer. The deepest layer, the blue near the top of Uranus, shows a clearer atmosphere. Image processing has been used to brighten the rings around Uranus so that astronomers can study their structure. In reality, the rings are as dark as black lava or charcoal. This false color picture was assembled from several exposures taken July 3, 1995 by the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2. The Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and managed by the Goddard Spaced Flight Center for NASA's Office of Space Science. This image and other images and data received from the Hubble Space Telescope are posted on the World Wide Web on the Space Telescope Science Institute home page at URL http://oposite.stsci.edu *Image Credit*: Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona Lunar & Planetary Lab) and NASA
Hubble Spots Northern Hemisp …
title Hubble Spots Northern Hemispheric Clouds on Uranus
date 07.31.1997
description Using visible light, astronomers for the first time this century have detected clouds in the northern hemisphere of Uranus. The newest images, taken July 31 and Aug. 1, 1997 with NASA Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, show banded structure and multiple clouds. Using these images, Dr. Heidi Hammel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and colleagues Wes Lockwood (Lowell Observatory) and Kathy Rages (NASA Ames Research Center) plan to measure the wind speeds in the northern hemisphere for the first time. Uranus is sometimes called the "sideways" planet, because its rotation axis tipped more than 90 degrees from the planet's orbit around the Sun. The "year" on Uranus lasts 84 Earth years, which creates extremely long seasons - winter in the northern hemisphere has lasted for nearly 20 years. Uranus has also been called bland and boring, because no clouds have been detectable in ground-based images of the planet. Even to the cameras of the Voyager spacecraft in 1986, Uranus presented a nearly uniform blank disk, and discrete clouds were detectable only in the southern hemisphere. Voyager flew over the planet's cloud tops near the dead of northern winter (when the northern hemisphere was completely shrouded in darkness). Spring has finally come to the northern hemisphere of Uranus. The newest images, both the visible-wavelength ones described here and those taken a few days earlier with the Near Infrared and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) by Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona), show a planet with banded structure and detectable clouds. Two images are shown here. The "aqua" image (on the left) is taken at 5,470 Angstroms, which is near the human eye's peak response to wavelength. Color has been added to the image to show what a person on a spacecraft near Uranus might see. Little structure is evident at this wavelength, though with image-processing techniques, a small cloud can be seen near the planet's northern limb (rightmost edge). The "red" image (on the right) is taken at 6,190 Angstroms, and is sensitive to absorption by methane molecules in the planet's atmosphere. The banded structure of Uranus is evident, and the small cloud near the northern limb is now visible. Scientists are expecting that the discrete clouds and banded structure may become even more pronounced as Uranus continues in its slow pace around the Sun. "Some parts of Uranus haven't seen the Sun in decades," says Dr. Hammel, "and historical records suggest that we may see the development of more banded structure and patchy clouds as the planet's year progresses." Some scientists have speculated that the winds of Uranus are not symmetric around the planet's equator, but no clouds were visible to test those theories. The new data will provide the opportunity to measure the northern winds. Hammel and colleagues expect to have results soon. The Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and managed by, the Goddard Spaced Flight Center for NASA's Office of Space Science. This image and other images and data received from the Hubble Space Telescope are posted on the World Wide Web on the Space Telescope Science Institute home page at URL http://oposite.stsci.edu *Image Credit*: Heidi Hammel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), NASA
Hubble Tracks Clouds on Uran …
title Hubble Tracks Clouds on Uranus
date 07.28.1997
description Taking its first peek at Uranus, NASA Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) has detected six distinct clouds in images taken July 28,1997. The image on the right, taken 90 minutes after the left-hand image, shows the planet's rotation. Each image is a composite of three near-infrared images. They are called false-color images because the human eye cannot detect infrared light. Therefore, colors corresponding to visible light were assigned to the images. (The wavelengths for the "blue,""green," and "red" exposures are 1.1, 1.6, and 1.9 micrometers, respectively.) At visible and near-infrared light, sunlight is reflected from hazes and clouds in the atmosphere of Uranus. However, at near-infrared light, absorption by gases in the Uranian atmosphere limits the view to different altitudes, causing intense contrasts and colors. In these images, the blue exposure probes the deepest atmospheric levels. A blue color indicates clear atmospheric conditions, prevalent at mid-latitudes near the center of the disk. The green exposure is sensitive to absorption by methane gas, indicating a clear atmosphere, but in hazy atmospheric regions, the green color is seen because sunlight is reflected back before it is absorbed. The green color around the south pole (marked by "+") shows a strong local haze. The red exposure reveals absorption by hydrogen, the most abundant gas in the atmosphere of Uranus. Most sunlight shows patches of haze high in the atmosphere. A red color near the limb (edge) of the disk indicates the presence of a high-altitude haze. The purple color to the right of the equator also suggests haze high in the atmosphere with a clear atmosphere below. The five clouds visible near the right limb rotated counterclockwise during the time between both images. They reach high into the atmosphere, as indicated by their red color. Features of such high contrast have never been seen before on Uranus. The clouds are almost as large as continents on Earth, such as Europe. Another cloud (which barely can be seen) rotated along the path shown by the black arrow. It is located at lower altitudes, as indicated by its green color. The rings of Uranus are extremely faint in visible light but quite prominent in the near infrared. The brightest ring, the epsilon ring, has a variable width around its circumference. Its widest and thus brightest part is at the top in this image. Two fainter, inner rings are visible next to the epsilon ring. Eight of the 10 small Uranian satellites, discovered by Voyager 2, can be seen in both images. Their sizes range from about 25 miles (40 kilometers) for Bianca to 100 miles (150 kilometers) for Puck. The smallest of these satellites have not been detected since the departure of Voyager 2 from Uranus in 1986. These eight satellites revolve around Uranus in less than a day. The inner ones are faster than the outer ones. Their motion in the 90 minutes between both images is, marked in the right panel. The area outside the rings was slightly enhanced in brightness to improve the visibility of these faint satellites. The Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 was developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and managed by the Goddard Spaced Flight Center for NASA's Office of Space Science. This image and other images and data received from the Hubble Space Telescope are posted on the World Wide Web on the Space Telescope Science Institute home page at URL http://oposite.stsci.edu/ *Image Credit*: NASA
Hubble Space Telescope Measu …
Title Hubble Space Telescope Measures Precise Distance to the Most Remote Galaxy Yet
Hubble Observes the Moons an …
Title Hubble Observes the Moons and Rings of the Planet Uranus
Hubble Observes the Moons an …
Title Hubble Observes the Moons and Rings of the Planet Uranus
Hubble Captures Detailed Ima …
Title Hubble Captures Detailed Image of Uranus's Atmosphere
Hubble Spies Globular Cluste …
Title Hubble Spies Globular Cluster in Neighboring Galaxy
Hubble Space Telescope Compl …
Title Hubble Space Telescope Completes Sixth Year of Exploration
Hubble Provides a Moving Loo …
Title Hubble Provides a Moving Look at Neptune's Stormy Disposition
Hubble Views of Dust Disks a …
Title Hubble Views of Dust Disks and Rings Surrounding Young Stars Yield Clues
General Information What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers their first views of a dust ring around the star HR 4796A and a dark gap dividing an immense dust disk around the star HD 141569. These images may provide important clues to possible planet formation. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1999/03/text/ ]
Hubble Provides Infrared Vie …
Title Hubble Provides Infrared View of Moon, Ring, and Clouds
Hubble Watches Uranus
Title Hubble Watches Uranus
Hubble's Infrared Galaxy Gal …
Title Hubble's Infrared Galaxy Gallery
One Star's Loss is Another's …
Title One Star's Loss is Another's Gain: Hubble Captures Brief Moment in Life of Lively Duo
Astronomers Have Found a New …
Title Astronomers Have Found a New Twist in a Suspected Proto-Planetary Disk
General Information What is an American Astronomical Society Meeting release? A major news announcement issued at an American Astronomical Society meeting, the premier astronomy conference. A telltale new warp uncovered in a vast, thin disk of dust encircling the star Beta Pictoris may be caused by the gravitational tug of a bypassing star or companion brown dwarf. These conclusions are based on Hubble telescope pictures that reveal the dim outermost reaches of the disk, which are 7 billion miles from the central star. The top image presents the entire disk, which spans 140 billion miles edge-to-edge. An unusual flaring at the top of the right side of the disk reveals that dust has been pulled above the dense plane of the disk beyond what is observed on the left side. A detailed close-up view of the inner region of the disk [bottom picture] shows a warp in the disk. These new details support the presence of one or more planets orbiting the star. Read more: * Release Text [ http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1998/03/text/ ]
Hubble Finds Many Bright Clo …
Title Hubble Finds Many Bright Clouds on Uranus
Centaur's Bright Surface Spo …
Title Centaur's Bright Surface Spot Could be Crater of Fresh Ice
Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag …
Title Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe
Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moo …
Title Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus
Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moo …
Title Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus
Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moo …
Title Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus
Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moo …
Title Hubble Uncovers Smallest Moons Yet Seen Around Uranus
NASA Approves James Webb Spa …
Title NASA Approves James Webb Space Telescope Mirror Architecture
NASA's Hubble Discovers New …
Title NASA's Hubble Discovers New Rings and Moons Around Uranus
The Colorful Lives of the Ou …
Title The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets
The Colorful Lives of the Ou …
Title The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets
The Colorful Lives of the Ou …
Title The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets
NASA's Hubble Discovers New …
Title NASA's Hubble Discovers New Rings and Moons Around Uranus
The Colorful Lives of the Ou …
Title The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets
The Colorful Lives of the Ou …
Title The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets
The Colorful Lives of the Ou …
Title The Colorful Lives of the Outer Planets
Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud …
Title Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud in the Atmosphere of Uranus
Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud …
Title Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud in the Atmosphere of Uranus
Hubble Captures a Rare Eclip …
Title Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus
Hubble Captures a Rare Eclip …
Title Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus
Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud …
Title Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud in the Atmosphere of Uranus
The Colorful Demise of a Sun …
Title The Colorful Demise of a Sun-like Star
Hubble Teams with Google to …
Title Hubble Teams with Google to Bring the Cosmos Down to Earth
Going, Going, Gone: Hubble C …
Title Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge
Going, Going, Gone: Hubble C …
Title Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge
Going, Going, Gone: Hubble C …
Title Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge
Going, Going, Gone: Hubble C …
Title Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge
Going, Going, Gone: Hubble C …
Title Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge
Going, Going, Gone: Hubble C …
Title Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge
Going, Going, Gone: Hubble C …
Title Going, Going, Gone: Hubble Captures Uranus's Rings on Edge
First ESA Faint Object Camer …
Title First ESA Faint Object Camera Science Images Pluto - the "Double Planet
NASA's Hubble Discovers New …
Title NASA's Hubble Discovers New Rings and Moons Around Uranus
NASA's Hubble Discovers New …
Title NASA's Hubble Discovers New Rings and Moons Around Uranus
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