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by Kevisaurus is a Carnotaurus today on January 8th, 2008

Kevisaurus is a Carnotaurus today

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When were the rings of Uranus first detected?

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Answers. 4 helpful answers below.

  • by R U Sirius on January 9th, 2008

    R U Sirius

    I thought I treated that rash a long time ago? Is it back?

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  • by slothmister on January 8th, 2008

    slothmister

    1977

    http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/uranus/rings.html

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  • by Chris on July 6th, 2008

    Chris

    In 1977, the first nine rings of Uranus were discovered. During the Voyager encounters, these rings were photographed and measured, as were two other new rings and ringlets. Uranus' rings are distinctly different from those at Jupiter and Saturn. The outermost epsilon ring is composed mostly of ice boulders several feet across. A very tenuous distribution of fine dust also seems to be spread throughout the ring system.

    There may be a large number of narrow rings, or possibly incomplete rings or ring arcs, as small as 50 meters (160 feet) in width. The individual ring particles were found to be of low reflectivity. At least one ring, the epsilon, was found to be gray in color. The moons Cordelia and Ophelia act as shepherd satellites for the epsilon ring.
    http://www.solarviews.com/eng/uranus.htm
    The solar system's seventh planet was discovered in 1781, but its rings weren't found until 1977. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft sent back the first images of the rings in 1986.

    A series of previous Keck images (top) shows how astronomers' view of the rings has changed since 2004.

    The new image shows that the rings' dust pattern has changed significantly since the 1980s, suggesting that Uranus has suffered occassional large impacts over the past 21 years.

    Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley, led a study of the image appearing this week in the online advance edition of the journal Science.

    "We think that dusty rings in general are sustained by impacts," de Pater said. "The rings of Jupiter exist because small meteorites continuously bombard the moons in Jupiter's system."

    Study co-author Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Ridgefield, Connecticut, added that Uranus has been "the unappreciated underdog of the outer solar system for too long.

    "It is refreshing to see such dynamic change and exciting evolution in the rings and the planet."
    —Anne Minard
    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070823-uranus-picture.html
    There is a nice picture of Uranus on the second link.

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  • by Nuclear Kitten on January 8th, 2008

    Nuclear Kitten

    i don't know perhaps when the first satellite entered that solar system quadrant?

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