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Voyager celebrates 25 years since Uranus visitThe spacecraft’s data revealed 11 new moons and two new rings around the icy planet.
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NASA/JPL —
Published:
January 24, 2011 These two pictures of Uranus — one in true color (left) and the other in false color — were compiled from images returned January 17, 1986, by the narrow-angle camera of Voyager 2.
Photo by NASA/JPL
Images of the small, icy Uranus moon Miranda were particularly surprising. Because small moons tend to cool and freeze over rapidly after their formation, scientists had expected a boring, ancient surface, pockmarked by crater upon weathered crater. Instead, they saw grooved terrain with linear valleys and ridges cutting through the older terrain and sometimes coming together in chevron shapes. They also saw dramatic fault scarps, or cliffs. All of this indicated that periods of tectonic and thermal activity had rocked Miranda's surface in the past.
The scientists were also shocked by data showing that Uranus' magnetic north and south poles were not closely aligned with the north-south axis of the planet's rotation. Instead, the planet's magnetic field poles were closer to the uranian equator. This suggested that the material flows in the planet's interior that are generating the magnetic field are closer to the surface of Uranus than the flows inside Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn are to their respective surfaces.
"Voyager 2's visit to Uranus expanded our knowledge of the unexpected diversity of bodies that share the solar system with Earth," said Stone from Caltech in Pasadena. "Even though similar in many ways, the worlds we encounter can still surprise us."
Voyager 2 launched August 20, 1977, 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1. After completing its prime mission of flying by Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 was sent on the right flight path to visit Uranus, which is about 2 billion miles (3 billion kilometers) away from the Sun. Voyager 2 made its closest approach — within 50,600 miles (81,500 kilometers) of the uranian cloud tops — January 24, 1986.
Before Voyager 2's visit, scientists had to learn about Uranus by using Earth-based and airborne telescopes. By observing dips in starlight as a star passed behind Uranus, scientists knew Uranus had nine narrow rings. But it wasn't until the Voyager 2 flyby that scientists were able to capture for the first time images of the rings and the tiny shepherding moons that sculpted them. Unlike Saturn's icy rings, they found Uranus' rings to be dark gray, reflecting only a few percent of the incident sunlight.
Scientists had also determined an average temperature for Uranus of –350° Fahrenheit (–212° Celsius) before this encounter, but the distribution of that temperature came as a surprise. Voyager showed there was heat transport from pole to pole in Uranus' atmosphere that maintained the same temperature at both poles, even though the Sun was shining directly for decades on one pole and not the other.
By the end of the Uranus encounter and science analysis, data from Voyager 2 enabled the discovery of 11 new moons and two new rings, and generated dozens of science papers about the quirky seventh planet.
Voyager 2 moved on to explore Neptune, the last planetary target, in August 1989. It is now hurtling toward interstellar space, which is the space between stars. It is about 9 billion miles (14 billion km) away from the Sun. Voyager 1, which explored only Jupiter and Saturn before heading on a faster track toward interstellar space, is about 11 billion miles (17 billion km) away from the Sun.
"The Uranus encounter was one of a kind," said Suzanne Dodd from JPL. "Voyager 2 was healthy and durable enough to make it to Uranus and then to Neptune. Currently, both Voyager spacecraft are on the cusp of leaving the Sun's sphere of influence and once again blazing a trail of scientific discovery."
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