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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, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @10:07AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus#Exploration [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune#Exploration [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_Science_Decadal_Survey [wikipedia.org]
The last flybys were in the 80s. Exploration of Uranus and Neptune are on the agenda but won't happen for another decade or two.
You know you want to fund Uranus Pathfinder.
(Score: 4, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday October 25 2016, @10:20AM
You know you want to fund Uranus Pathfinder.
I think I was billed for one of those after my last check-up.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @01:45PM
*sigh*
Only comment that isn't a butt joke. Unless it is and I'm wooshing. Waste of a comment section.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 25 2016, @01:47PM
If they can drop Pluto as an official planet in the solar system, then so too can they rename Uranus. It's time.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @02:33PM
Urectum?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @07:27PM
Down-modder clearly isn't a Futurama fan.
(Score: 1) by YeaWhatevs on Tuesday October 25 2016, @09:09PM
Or maybe they were. They got tired of that joke and renamed it Urethrum
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 26 2016, @04:07AM
Urvagina.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 26 2016, @08:57PM
Urmom
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 25 2016, @05:59PM
The problem is not Uranus' name. The problem is the English language. Stop using "your" and use "thy" as God intended. Then thou will find that "Uranus" doesn't sound much like "thy anus". ;-)
(Score: 1, Troll) by Arik on Tuesday October 25 2016, @09:41PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday October 26 2016, @04:06AM
If thou were knowledgeable, thou would know that it should be "thine anus".
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday October 26 2016, @07:11AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves