See Uranus' Rings in Stunning New Image from the Webb Telescope (cnn.com) 32
"The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a new stunning image of ice giant Uranus, with almost all its faint dusty rings on display," reports CNN:
The image is representative of the telescope's significant sensitivity, NASA said, as the fainter rings have only been captured previously by the Voyager 2 spacecraft and the W.M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaii. Uranus has 13 known rings, with 11 of them visible in the new Webb image. Nine rings are classified as the main rings, while the other two are harder to capture due to their dusty makeup and were not discovered until the Voyager 2 mission's flyby in 1986.
Two other, faint outer rings not shown in this latest image were discovered in 2007 from images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and scientists hope Webb will capture them in the future.... "The JWST gives us the ability to look at both Uranus and Neptune in a completely new way because we have never had a telescope of this size that looks in the infrared," said Dr. Naomi Rowe-Gurney, a postdoctoral research scientist and solar system ambassador for the Webb space telescope at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The infrared can show us new depths and features that are difficult to see from the ground with the atmosphere in the way and invisible to telescopes that look in visible light like Hubble."
"When Voyager 2 looked at Uranus, its camera showed an almost featureless blue-green ball in visible wavelengths," NASA explains. "With the infrared wavelengths and extra sensitivity of Webb we see more detail, showing how dynamic the atmosphere of Uranus really is." On the right side of the planet there's an area of brightening at the pole facing the Sun, known as a polar cap. This polar cap is unique to Uranus — it seems to appear when the pole enters direct sunlight in the summer and vanish in the fall; these Webb data will help scientists understand the currently mysterious mechanism. Webb revealed a surprising aspect of the polar cap: a subtle enhanced brightening at the center of the cap. The sensitivity and longer wavelengths of Webb's NIRCam may be why we can see this enhanced Uranus polar feature when it has not been seen as clearly with other powerful telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and Keck Observatory....
This was only a short, 12-minute exposure image of Uranus with just two filters. It is just the tip of the iceberg of what Webb can do when observing this mysterious planet.
Two other, faint outer rings not shown in this latest image were discovered in 2007 from images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and scientists hope Webb will capture them in the future.... "The JWST gives us the ability to look at both Uranus and Neptune in a completely new way because we have never had a telescope of this size that looks in the infrared," said Dr. Naomi Rowe-Gurney, a postdoctoral research scientist and solar system ambassador for the Webb space telescope at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "The infrared can show us new depths and features that are difficult to see from the ground with the atmosphere in the way and invisible to telescopes that look in visible light like Hubble."
"When Voyager 2 looked at Uranus, its camera showed an almost featureless blue-green ball in visible wavelengths," NASA explains. "With the infrared wavelengths and extra sensitivity of Webb we see more detail, showing how dynamic the atmosphere of Uranus really is." On the right side of the planet there's an area of brightening at the pole facing the Sun, known as a polar cap. This polar cap is unique to Uranus — it seems to appear when the pole enters direct sunlight in the summer and vanish in the fall; these Webb data will help scientists understand the currently mysterious mechanism. Webb revealed a surprising aspect of the polar cap: a subtle enhanced brightening at the center of the cap. The sensitivity and longer wavelengths of Webb's NIRCam may be why we can see this enhanced Uranus polar feature when it has not been seen as clearly with other powerful telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and Keck Observatory....
This was only a short, 12-minute exposure image of Uranus with just two filters. It is just the tip of the iceberg of what Webb can do when observing this mysterious planet.
As always (Score:3, Funny)
The jokes write themselves.
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I wonder why the ice rings are elliptical instead of circular?
Circle at an angle (Score:5, Informative)
What a neat image though.
I wonder why the ice rings are elliptical instead of circular?
If you were looking straight down from one of the poles they would appear circular.
Since you're looking at a circle from an angle, it appears elliptical.
Uranus is tilted (Score:5, Informative)
What a neat image though.
I wonder why the ice rings are elliptical instead of circular?
If you were looking straight down from one of the poles they would appear circular.
Since you're looking at a circle from an angle, it appears elliptical.
The original isn't a stupid question at all.
The JWST is near to Earth, and so in the ecliptic plane. The planets are on that plane, like balls on a dish.
Looking out at Uranus is almost like looking top-down on the planet. Why is this?
Most of the planets rotate at 90 degrees to the ecliptic ("up and down" in the plate model), but Uranus' rotation is tilted almost 90 degrees, so when we look at it we're looking almost top-down on the planet. Where "top" is the North pole.
Here's [spaceexploration92.com] a diagram.
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Did somebody imply the question was stupid? Seems like a reasonable question (as you mention) with a calm, accurate response.
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I was confused too until I saw he replied to himself, so apparently he was just expounding on the original answer.
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"The jokes write themselves."
Indeed, why are they watching my anus?
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The thing is, this whole thing should have been avoided in the first place
Mercury: Mercurius (Latin), not Hermes (Greek)
Venus: Venus (Latin), not Aphrodite (Greek)
Earth: {Germanic}
Moon: {Germanic}
Luna: Luna (Latin), not Selene (Greek)
Mars: Mars (Latin), not Ares (Greek)
1 Ceres: Ceres (Latin), not Demeter (Greek)
2 Pallas: Pallas (same in Latin and Greek)
3 Juno: Juno (Latin), not Hera (Greek)
Jupiter: Iupeter (Latin), not Zeus (Greek)
Io: Io (same in Latin and Greek)
Ganymede: Ganymedes (same in Latin and Greek)
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Re: As always (Score:2)
Place obligatory Futurama/Professor Farnsworth quote here.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
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Yes. They're going to change it ti Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you...
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I think we should do that to YOUR anus.
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The jokes write themselves.
Have you tried making one?
Rings on URAnus ? (Score:2)
Maybe you should've wiped better ........
Re: (Score:2)
The jokes write themselves.
"Why isn't Uranus on OnlyFans? Everyone else's is".
8th Grade Science Project, wrote a standup speech (Score:4, Funny)
Stood up in front of two classes and presented my speech:
Your Anus is Big
Your Anus is Blue
Your Anus is Gaseous
My classmates were all rolling in laughter.
Teachers not so much
Re: (Score:2)
So, you got an one legged A grade? :P
Stunning? (Score:1)
Looks like Webb's got glaucoma
Can't Comment Error 404 (Score:2)
All responses unfit for human consumption.
Webb telescope? (Score:3, Informative)
A small mirror is so much cheaper.
Re: Webb telescope? (Score:2)
My bad (Score:2)
Well dammit sorry, but these hemorrhoids mean I need to sit on that damn donut cushion all day.
What makes the rings? (Score:1)
Is Electric Universe theory as plausible as any current scientific theory?
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The rings are made of ice and dust and rocks, just like any other planetary ring. It's just really faint in the visible spectrum.
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Electric Universe Theory shares with Modified General Relativity theories and other alternative physics theories the trait that they demand special treatment from the scientific community. They only attempt to explain a subset of observations, and cannot show that they are better theories for those. The widely accepted theories are widely accepted because they can be applied to all observations, and are highly successful at explaining them. Accepted models have been overthrow in the past by better theories,
The 12 year old in all of us... (Score:2)
Fry: Oh, man, this is great! Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus.
Leela: I don't get it.
Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all..
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Farnsworth: Urectum.
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I still think they should send more probes to Uranus. It looks quite nice in that picture.