The icy moon Ariel (white) casts a shadow on the cloud tops of Uranus - the moon is named for a mischievous spirit in Shakespeare's The Tempest (Image: NASA/ESA/l Sromovsky/H Hammel/K Rages/U Wisc/Space Science Institute/SETI Institute)
The icy moon Ariel (white) casts a shadow on the cloud tops of Uranus - the moon is named for a mischievous spirit in Shakespeare's The Tempest (Image: NASA/ESA/l Sromovsky/H Hammel/K Rages/U Wisc/Space Science Institute/SETI Institute)
Truly fabulous!
Images of Uranus .... Wow who would have thunk it.... Millions of dollars on a telescope for this simply amazing.
Amazng. I wonder if NASA can keeep the Hubble Space Telscope operating.
Uranus is blue!
A piece of Uranus where the Sun don't shine...
Mods blew this one away a day or two ago. And the fun was just beginning.
":^/
Don't they have computer simulations that would show all of those planetary orbits, along with the moons, the attending illumination from the sun, the moons, and attendant shadows cast on the planet, etc., in full graphic representation??
My God, I would place even money I can pull up Google results that will direct me to FREE SOFTWARE that will allow me to run such a graphic program on my home computer..
How is it the Space Institute doesn't have such software?
How is it they aren't running such software on their targets in the solar system?
I would think that if someone is going to use the (darn) HUBBLE telescope to take shots of Uranus, then the first thing you do is run simulations on your (darn) computer(s) to determine what it is you SHOULD be seeing, and be able to compare it to the photographic results..
Seriously, the more I think about this the more it (ticks) me off..
Bump
Looks like a blue marble in front of black paper to me - did this photo come from seeBS?
I am really angry with Saturn and Uranus. Neptune and Jupiter are OK though.
The rings of Uranus were discovered in 1977, from observations during a stellar occultation event by astronomer teams at the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) and the Perth Observatory (Australia). Just before and after the planet moved in front of the (occulted) star, the surrounding rings caused the starlight to dim for short intervals of time. Photos obtained from the Voyager-2 spacecraft in 1986 showed a multitude of very tenuous rings. These rings are almost undetectable from the Earth in visible light.
Now that is cool!
"The icy moon Ariel (white) casts a shadow on the cloud tops of Uranus - the moon is named for a mischievous spirit in Shakespeare's The Tempest"
A mischevous spirit around uranus.
Snicker.
Sir William Herschel, [who] formally discovered the planet on March 13, 1781, named it Georgium Sidus (George's Star) in honour of King George III of Great Britain.
When it was pointed out that sidus means star and not planet, he rebaptised it the Georgian Planet.
This name was not acceptable outside of Britain.
-- [French astronomer, Pierre] Lalande proposed in 1784 to name it Herschel, at the same time that he created the planet's symbol ("a globe surmounted by your initial"); his proposal was readily adopted by French astronomers.
-- [Swedish astronomer Erik] Prosperin, of Uppsala, proposed the names Astraea, Cybele, and Neptune (now borne by two asteroids and a planet).
-- [Finnish-Swedish-born Russian astronomer Anders Johann] Lexell, of St. Petersburg, compromised with Great Britain's Neptune.
-- [Swiss mathematician Daniel] Bernoulli, from Berlin, suggested the names Hypercronius and Transaturnis.
-- [German physicist Georg Christoph] Lichtenberg, from from Göttingen, chimed in with Austräa,, a goddess mentioned by Ovid.
The name Minerva was also proposed.
Finally,[German astronomer Johann Elert] Bode, as editor of the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch, opted for Uranus, after Latinized version of the Greek god of the sky, Ouranos;
[Hungerian astromoter] Maximilian Hell followed suit by using it in the first ephemeris*, published in Vienna.
Examination of earliest issues of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1827 shows that the name Uranus was already the most common name used even by British astronomers by then, and probably earlier.
The name Georgium Sidus or "the Georgian" were still used infrequently (by the British alone) thereafter.
The final holdout was HM Nautical Almanac Office, which did not switch to Uranus until 1850.
In the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese languages, the planet's name is literally translated as the sky king star (天王星).
=================================
* Ephemeris: A table giving the coordinates of a celestial body at a number of specific times during a given period.
A thinly veiled attempt by the gay coalition to detract attention from the eviction of pluto!
"I just took this great photo of Uranus. Wanna see it?"
Cheers!
Must.
Not.
Make.
Obvious.
Joke.
Must.
Not.
Make.
Obvious.
Joke.
Must.
Not.
Make.
Obvious.
Joke.
Really great to see this..thanks for the posting and pic.
Dark skies reveal planet Uranus
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14739540/