Hubble Captures a Rare Eclipse on Uranus

User rating: 4.6 / 5 after 37 vote(s)

Credit: NASA ESA L. Sromovsky (University of Wisconsin Madison) H. Hammel (Space Science Institute) and K. Rages (SETI Institute)
Credit: NASA, ESA, L. Sromovsky (University of Wisconsin, Madison), H. Hammel (Space Science Institute), and K. Rages (SETI Institute)

This image is a never-before-seen astronomical alignment of a moon traversing the face of Uranus, and its accompanying shadow. The white dot near the center of Uranus’ blue-green disk is the icy moon Ariel. The 700-mile-diameter satellite is casting a shadow onto the cloud tops of Uranus. To an observer on Uranus, this would appear as a solar eclipse, where the moon briefly blocks out the Sun as its shadow races across Uranus’s cloud tops.


Full story »
All News summaries from Space & Earth science news
All News summaries for August 31, 2006

Spacecraft flies by remote asteroid, camera stops (Update)

Sep 05, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- The European deep space probe Rosetta successfully completed a flyby of an asteroid millions of miles from earth, but its high resolution camera stopped shortly before the closest pass, space officials ...

NASA delays Hubble mission 2 days due to storms

Sep 05, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- NASA has delayed next month's space shuttle launch to the Hubble Space Telescope by two days.

Spiky Probe on NASA Mars Lander Raises Vapor Quandary

Sep 05, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- A fork-like conductivity probe has sensed humidity rising and falling beside NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, but when stuck into the ground, its measurements so far indicate soil that is thoroughly ...

Cassini Images Ring Arcs Among Saturn's Moons

Sep 05, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected a faint, partial ring orbiting with one small moon of Saturn, and has confirmed the presence of another partial ring orbiting with a second moon. This ...

Astronomer Discovers Upper Mass Limit for Black Holes

Sep 05, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
There appears to be an upper limit to how big the universe’s most massive black holes can get, according to new research led by a Yale University astrophysicist.
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive