Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: volcanopele Dec 22 2005, 07:50 PM

Haven't found an official press release on this but Yahoo has an article up about a few newly discovered rings of Uranus:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051222/ap_on_sc/uranus_rings

These rings were found between the Epsilon ring and Miranda's orbit. One apparently was found at around 97,000 km, near the orbit of Mab, suggesting that Mab supplies material for the ring. These rings are apparently quite faint, probably why VGR2 missed them.

Posted by: Tayfun Öner Dec 22 2005, 08:01 PM

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/33/

Posted by: AlexBlackwell Dec 22 2005, 08:01 PM

This refers to the following paper, which was published online today in Science Express:

The Second Ring-Moon System of Uranus: Discovery and Dynamics
Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer
Published online December 22, 2005; 10.1126/science.1122882 (Science Express Research Articles)
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1122882v1
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/1122882/DC1

Posted by: volcanopele Dec 22 2005, 08:03 PM

Here is the official press release:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2005/33/full/

Apparently, these new rings were seen by Voyager images, but because they were much farther away from the other rings, they were never noticed.

EDIT: Guess I wasn't fast enough

Posted by: mars loon Dec 22 2005, 11:23 PM

Here is an article from space.com
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/051222_uranus.html

first few paragraphs:

New Moons and Rings Found at Uranus
By SPACE.com Staff

posted: 22 December 2005
03:21 pm ET

Astronomers have discovered new rings and small moons around Uranus and found surprising changes in satellite orbits around the giant planet.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope photographed a pair of previously unknown rings. The largest is twice the diameter of the planet's previously known rings. The new rings are so far from the planet that they are being called Uranus's "second ring system."

Hubble also spotted two small satellites. One shares its orbit with one of the newly discovered rings. Most surprisingly, the orbits of Uranus's family of inner moons have changed significantly in the last decade, the new data reveal.

Posted by: ermar Dec 23 2005, 02:45 AM

Ehh? This is why we need an orbiter out there, to make sure they don't switch around on us!

Posted by: Decepticon Dec 23 2005, 01:38 PM

""Have you checked the Discovery's orbit, lately Dr.Floyd!?"

Posted by: PhilCo126 Dec 23 2005, 05:04 PM

Well, I guess these guys will have some restyling work
http://www.androidworld.com/prod64.htm

Posted by: ljk4-1 Dec 23 2005, 05:10 PM

And didn't the HST determine that Neptune's Great Dark Spot has vanished since it was seen by Voyager 2 in 1989? They'll have to update that globe, too.

Posted by: PhilCo126 Dec 23 2005, 05:16 PM

Certainly any globe of the Gas giant planets will be outdated sooner or later but a globe of the pizza-moon Io could be outdated the next day

Posted by: Ian R Jan 16 2006, 08:53 PM

There was me thinking that the Hubble evidence for the inner new ring was rather tenuous - Keck has just confirmed its existence:

http://keckobservatory.org/news/science/051222_uranus/index.html

Posted by: ljk4-1 Jan 16 2006, 08:59 PM

Yeah, that Hubble Space Telescope - you just can't trust it these days.

Posted by: Decepticon Jan 17 2006, 01:57 AM

That image is just fracken Awesome!

Posted by: PhilCo126 Jan 17 2006, 05:26 PM

THere'll be an article on 20th anniversary of Voyager - Uranus in BIS Spaceflight magazine March 2006 issue

http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/spaceflight.htm

Posted by: Rob Pinnegar Jan 28 2006, 05:31 PM

Surprising that this hasn't been referenced in these threads, as people here generally remember that kind of thing. The 20th anniversary was just a few days ago -- I completely missed it.

I guess it's been sort of overshadowed in everyone's minds by the 20th anniversary of you-know-what (which is today).

Posted by: ljk4-1 Jan 28 2006, 05:59 PM

No, we did not forget the historic event before the Challenger Tragedy:

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=1991&view=findpost&p=38008

Posted by: PhilCo126 Jan 28 2006, 06:09 PM

I never forget the anniversaries of Voyager or Pioneer milestones as it gives a good opportunity to write another article about those superb travellers

Posted by: AlexBlackwell Feb 16 2006, 05:50 PM

The final version of the paper, and an accompanying Perspectives piece by Carl Murray, is being published in the http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol311/issue5763/index.dtl. Note, too, that the Showalter and Lissauer paper made the cover.

Note: As I post this, I don't think the online embargo for this issue, which permits full access to the papers, has been lifted yet. I believe this is an automated feature of the website. Access should be available in a few hours.

Posted by: SigurRosFan Apr 7 2006, 03:18 PM

- http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn8960-blue-ring-of-uranus-linked-to-sparkling-ice.html (Blue ring of Uranus linked to sparkling ice)

---
Before this discovery, the only known blue ring was Saturn's E-ring. It also has a moon orbiting at its heart – Enceladus - which spews out water vapour to generate the E-ring. Mab is surely too small to sustain similar activity, being only 15 kilometres across compared to 500 km for Enceladus. Instead meteorite impacts probably chip ice off the frozen surface to feed the ring.
---

Illustration:

Posted by: ljk4-1 Apr 7 2006, 03:22 PM

So why aren't other rings with moons embedded in them also blue? If all
that is required are meteorite impacts knocking off moon pieces rather than
full-scale geysers, why don't we see more blue rings?

Has anyone checked to see if Neptune has any blue rings? Shall I presume
that Jupiter does not?

Posted by: Rob Pinnegar Apr 9 2006, 04:31 PM

My first guess would be that Neptune was probably checked out right after the new Uranian rings were discovered, as soon as it was possible to do so at least. And I'm sure Mark Showalter has probably been busy poring over old Voyager 2 images as well, to see what might be revealed under the light of modern digital image processing.