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哈伯拍摄的合成照片,显示一对新发现的天王星光环.左边的合成图来自2003年哈伯的照片。光环很弱需要长时间曝光,后面的小斑点是噪点。
R/2003 U 1 的上部分可能由于一颗新发现的淹没在该环中的卫星Mab所激起的尘埃显得更显目。
右图摄于2005年,环由于天王星位于绕太阳轨道的不同位置显得更模糊。2007年天王星将到达它的春分点,届时太阳直射它的赤道。云带和风暴会更明显。该图北纬处有一个亮的风暴
These composite images from several observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal a pair of newly discovered rings encircling the planet Uranus. The left composite image is made from Hubble data taken in 2003. The new dusty rings are extremely faint and required long exposures to capture their image. The background speckle pattern is noise in the image. The outermost ring (R/2003 U 1) is likely replenished by dust blasted off a newly discovered satellite called Mab, embedded in the ring and visible as a bright streak at the top of the outer ring. The new outermost ring is twice the radius of the previously known ring system around Uranus, as seen near image center. (The inner rings are much brighter, so no noise is visible in the background). Approximately halfway between the outermost ring and inner ring system is a second newly discovered ring (R/2003 U2). Only a faint segment of it appears at the 12:00 o'clock position. Because of the long exposures, the moons are smeared out and appear as arcs within the ring system.
In the image at right, taken two years later, the rings appear more oblique because Uranus has moved along its solar orbit. The planet Uranus itself is approaching spring equinox, when the Sun will be directly shining over the planet's equator in 2007. Cloud bands and storms are becoming more pronounced in the atmosphere. A bright storm appears at northern latitudes in the 2005 images. The images were taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys, using a clear filter. |
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