Uranus_1280

Uranus_1280

It is the evening of March 13, 1781. In his backyard in England,

One “star” appears bigger than the others. It must be much clos

But Herschel’s “comet” never grows a tail and doesn’t

Astronomers realize the strange object is a planet beyond Saturn.

It was the first planet ever “discovered.”

Another surprise awaits Herschel..2

But the moons of Uranus seem to orbit that planet’s poles.

Figuring this was unlikely, Herschel concludes that

This gives us seasons, as the northern and s

But the rotational axis of Uranus is tilted roughly 98 degree

At certain times of its year, one pole points almost directly toward

To learn more about Uranus and its atmosphere, astronomers w

They had discovered a set of dark, narrow rings around Uranus that had pas

Before then, Saturn’s broad, bright rings were the only rings kn

Astronomers have to take long exposures — often overexposi

When the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in 1986,

When the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in 1986, .2

Voyager 2 revealed strange features on some of the moons.

Voyager 2 revealed strange features on some of the moons. .2

Voyager 2 also provided the first up-close look at Uranus and its

In addition, Hubble recently identified two outer rings around Uranus

During Voyager 2’s visit in 1986, the rings of Uranus appeared

During Voyager 2’s visit in 1986, the rings of Uranus appeared.2

We are now seeing the rings edge-on.

We only see the rings edge-on every 42 years.

The rings turn exactly edge-on to Earth twice in 2007 and on

When the rings are edge-on (or close to edge-on),

For example, as the rings of Uranus turn edge-on, so do the orbits of the

In 2006, Hubble witnessed something that no astronomer had seen b

During this alignment of the moons’ orbits, we can also see some

By observing this kind of eclipse, astronomers can measure a moon’s brig

As the rings of Uranus turn edge-on, some of them darken while oth

Infrared images of Uranus from May 2007 reveal that its dusty rings h

Astronomers have seen changes in the wispy rings of

While the rings are edge-on, astronomers will also try to measure

The narrow rings of Uranus are thought to be kept in line by small

When the rings of Uranus turn edge-on to the Sun in December

As sunlight illuminates some places on Uranus for the first time in decades

Uranus has surprised us many times.

Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute