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NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus 30 years ago, but researchers are still making discoveries from the data it gathered then. A new study led by University of Idaho researchers suggests there could be two tiny, previously undiscovered moonlets orbiting near two of the planet's rings.
Rob Chancia, a University of Idaho doctoral student, spotted key patterns in the rings while examining decades-old images of Uranus' icy rings taken by Voyager 2 in 1986. He noticed the amount of ring material on the edge of the alpha ring—one of the brightest of Uranus' multiple rings—varied periodically. A similar, even more promising pattern occurred in the same part of the neighboring beta ring.
"When you look at this pattern in different places around the ring, the wavelength is different—that points to something changing as you go around the ring. There's something breaking the symmetry," said Matt Hedman, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Idaho, who worked with Chancia to investigate the finding. Their results will be published in the Astronomical Journal and have been posted to the pre-press site arXiv.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @09:22AM
Butt mine only has one.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday October 25 2016, @11:03AM
Mine is limited only by the time it takes to moon someone and the unknown quantity of time that is my lifespan.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Arik on Tuesday October 25 2016, @06:16PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 25 2016, @07:45PM
He kept getting his ass kicked, obviously...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Wednesday October 26 2016, @06:05AM
By always doing things half-arsed.
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.