More about Uranus<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>- Uranus and Neptune’s true colours<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>
- Why Uranus is the coldest planet<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>
- How Uranus was discovered<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>
Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI Institute)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>About the Uranus study<\/strong><\/h2>During the observations, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft \u2013 better known for its study of dwarf planet Pluto and the Kuiper Belt<\/a> \u2013 was 6.5 billion miles away from Uranus, on the far side of the planet.<\/p>This enabled New Horizons<\/a> to study Uranus’s twilight crescent, a feat that cannot be achieved from Earth.<\/p>The spacecraft’s view of the planet was just several pixels wide in its Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera, but this was enough to give astronomers the data they needed.<\/p>
Hubble, meanwhile, was 1.7 billion miles from Uranus and, with a much higher resolution camera, was able to observe atmospheric features like clouds and storms on the day side of the ice giant.<\/p>![\"Hubble](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/uranus-hubble-new-horizons.jpg\")
Hubble Space Telescope (left) and New Horizon’s images of Uranus. Click to expand. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Samantha Hasler (MIT), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), New Horizons Planetary Science Theme Team; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Joseph Olmsted (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Comparing Uranus with planets beyond the Solar System<\/strong><\/h2>The study of Uranus is being used by astronomers as a proxy for learning more about photographing planets beyond our Solar System.<\/p>
“While we expected Uranus to appear differently in each filter of the observations, we found that Uranus was actually dimmer than predicted in the New Horizons data taken from a different viewpoint,” says lead author Samantha Hasler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and New Horizons science team collaborator.<\/p>![\"Diagram](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/uranus-hubble-new-horizons-views.jpg\")
Diagram showing the differing perspectives of Hubble and New Horizons’ views of Uranus. Click to expand. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Samantha Hasler (MIT), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), New Horizons Planetary Science Theme Team \/ Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Joseph Olmsted (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>As incredible as it may sound, astronomers have been able previously to directly image planets orbiting stars beyond our Sun, and the ability to do this will improve as technology and techniques advance.<\/p>
Direct imaging of exoplanets can teach astronomers about whether they could host life, but also enable them to learn more about how distant systems compare to our own Solar System.<\/p>
Astronomers use direct imaging to study exoplanets, but also a technique called spectroscopy<\/a>, whereby they split and analyse light that has passed from a host star through an exoplanet’s atmosphere to identify its chemical composition.<\/p>Currently, direct images of exoplanets reveal them as mere pinpoints because they are so far away, and often drowned out by their bright host stars.<\/p>![\"A](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/01\/infrared-exoplanet-058cea5.jpg\")
A near-infrared image of exoplanet 51 Eridani b captured by the Gemini Planet Imager on 18 December 2014. Credit: J. Rameau (UdeM) and C. Marois (NRC Herzberg).<\/figcaption><\/figure>“Uranus appears as just a small dot on the New Horizons observations, similar to the dots seen of directly-imaged exoplanets from observatories like Webb or ground-based observatories,” says Hasler. <\/p>
“Hubble provides context for what the atmosphere is doing when it was observed with New Horizons.”<\/p>
One example of this is how Hubble and New Horizons both saw that Uranus’s brightness did not vary as the planet rotated.<\/p>
This suggests cloud features were not changing with the planet\u2019s rotation.<\/p>
Results like these can be used to inform future observations of exoplanets.<\/p>
For example, by revealing more about how to image and study the atmospheres of gas giants in our Solar System, the results could be applied to planets beyond our Solar System.<\/p>![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/new-horizons-observing-uranus.jpg\")
Illustration of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft observing our Solar System from the Kuiper Belt. Credit: NASA, ESA, Christian Nieves (STScI), Ralf Crawford (STScI), Greg Bacon (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>New Horizons’s observations showed exoplanets may be dimmer than predicted at partial and high phase angles, and that the atmosphere reflects light differently at partial phase.<\/p>
\u201cThese landmark New Horizons studies of Uranus from a vantage point unobservable by any other means add to the mission\u2019s treasure trove of new scientific knowledge, and have, like many other datasets obtained in the mission, yielded surprising new insights into the worlds of our Solar System,\u201d says New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute.<\/p>
The results have implications for future missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch by 2027, which will use a coronagraph to block out light from distant stars to better see exoplanets in orbit around them.<\/p>
And NASA\u2019s Habitable Worlds Observatory, the first telescope designed to search for so-called biosignatures<\/a> on Earth-sized rocky planets.<\/p>![\"Artist's](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2022\/05\/Roman-space-telescope-12e16d1-e1653654778440.jpeg\")
Artist’s impression of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>“Studying how known benchmarks like Uranus appear in distant imaging can help us have more robust expectations when preparing for these future missions,” concluded Hasler.<\/p>
“And that will be critical to our success.”<\/p>
About the Uranus study<\/strong><\/h2>During the observations, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft \u2013 better known for its study of dwarf planet Pluto and the Kuiper Belt<\/a> \u2013 was 6.5 billion miles away from Uranus, on the far side of the planet.<\/p>This enabled New Horizons<\/a> to study Uranus’s twilight crescent, a feat that cannot be achieved from Earth.<\/p>The spacecraft’s view of the planet was just several pixels wide in its Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera, but this was enough to give astronomers the data they needed.<\/p>
Hubble, meanwhile, was 1.7 billion miles from Uranus and, with a much higher resolution camera, was able to observe atmospheric features like clouds and storms on the day side of the ice giant.<\/p>Hubble Space Telescope (left) and New Horizon’s images of Uranus. Click to expand. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Samantha Hasler (MIT), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), New Horizons Planetary Science Theme Team; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Joseph Olmsted (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Comparing Uranus with planets beyond the Solar System<\/strong><\/h2>The study of Uranus is being used by astronomers as a proxy for learning more about photographing planets beyond our Solar System.<\/p>
“While we expected Uranus to appear differently in each filter of the observations, we found that Uranus was actually dimmer than predicted in the New Horizons data taken from a different viewpoint,” says lead author Samantha Hasler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and New Horizons science team collaborator.<\/p>Diagram showing the differing perspectives of Hubble and New Horizons’ views of Uranus. Click to expand. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Samantha Hasler (MIT), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), New Horizons Planetary Science Theme Team \/ Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Joseph Olmsted (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>As incredible as it may sound, astronomers have been able previously to directly image planets orbiting stars beyond our Sun, and the ability to do this will improve as technology and techniques advance.<\/p>
Direct imaging of exoplanets can teach astronomers about whether they could host life, but also enable them to learn more about how distant systems compare to our own Solar System.<\/p>
Astronomers use direct imaging to study exoplanets, but also a technique called spectroscopy<\/a>, whereby they split and analyse light that has passed from a host star through an exoplanet’s atmosphere to identify its chemical composition.<\/p>Currently, direct images of exoplanets reveal them as mere pinpoints because they are so far away, and often drowned out by their bright host stars.<\/p>A near-infrared image of exoplanet 51 Eridani b captured by the Gemini Planet Imager on 18 December 2014. Credit: J. Rameau (UdeM) and C. Marois (NRC Herzberg).<\/figcaption><\/figure>“Uranus appears as just a small dot on the New Horizons observations, similar to the dots seen of directly-imaged exoplanets from observatories like Webb or ground-based observatories,” says Hasler. <\/p>
“Hubble provides context for what the atmosphere is doing when it was observed with New Horizons.”<\/p>
One example of this is how Hubble and New Horizons both saw that Uranus’s brightness did not vary as the planet rotated.<\/p>
This suggests cloud features were not changing with the planet\u2019s rotation.<\/p>
Results like these can be used to inform future observations of exoplanets.<\/p>
For example, by revealing more about how to image and study the atmospheres of gas giants in our Solar System, the results could be applied to planets beyond our Solar System.<\/p>Illustration of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft observing our Solar System from the Kuiper Belt. Credit: NASA, ESA, Christian Nieves (STScI), Ralf Crawford (STScI), Greg Bacon (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>New Horizons’s observations showed exoplanets may be dimmer than predicted at partial and high phase angles, and that the atmosphere reflects light differently at partial phase.<\/p>
\u201cThese landmark New Horizons studies of Uranus from a vantage point unobservable by any other means add to the mission\u2019s treasure trove of new scientific knowledge, and have, like many other datasets obtained in the mission, yielded surprising new insights into the worlds of our Solar System,\u201d says New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute.<\/p>
The results have implications for future missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch by 2027, which will use a coronagraph to block out light from distant stars to better see exoplanets in orbit around them.<\/p>
And NASA\u2019s Habitable Worlds Observatory, the first telescope designed to search for so-called biosignatures<\/a> on Earth-sized rocky planets.<\/p>Artist’s impression of the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>“Studying how known benchmarks like Uranus appear in distant imaging can help us have more robust expectations when preparing for these future missions,” concluded Hasler.<\/p>
“And that will be critical to our success.”<\/p>
This enabled New Horizons<\/a> to study Uranus’s twilight crescent, a feat that cannot be achieved from Earth.<\/p> The spacecraft’s view of the planet was just several pixels wide in its Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera, but this was enough to give astronomers the data they needed.<\/p> Hubble, meanwhile, was 1.7 billion miles from Uranus and, with a much higher resolution camera, was able to observe atmospheric features like clouds and storms on the day side of the ice giant.<\/p> The study of Uranus is being used by astronomers as a proxy for learning more about photographing planets beyond our Solar System.<\/p> “While we expected Uranus to appear differently in each filter of the observations, we found that Uranus was actually dimmer than predicted in the New Horizons data taken from a different viewpoint,” says lead author Samantha Hasler of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and New Horizons science team collaborator.<\/p> As incredible as it may sound, astronomers have been able previously to directly image planets orbiting stars beyond our Sun, and the ability to do this will improve as technology and techniques advance.<\/p> Direct imaging of exoplanets can teach astronomers about whether they could host life, but also enable them to learn more about how distant systems compare to our own Solar System.<\/p> Astronomers use direct imaging to study exoplanets, but also a technique called spectroscopy<\/a>, whereby they split and analyse light that has passed from a host star through an exoplanet’s atmosphere to identify its chemical composition.<\/p> Currently, direct images of exoplanets reveal them as mere pinpoints because they are so far away, and often drowned out by their bright host stars.<\/p> “Uranus appears as just a small dot on the New Horizons observations, similar to the dots seen of directly-imaged exoplanets from observatories like Webb or ground-based observatories,” says Hasler. <\/p> “Hubble provides context for what the atmosphere is doing when it was observed with New Horizons.”<\/p> One example of this is how Hubble and New Horizons both saw that Uranus’s brightness did not vary as the planet rotated.<\/p> This suggests cloud features were not changing with the planet\u2019s rotation.<\/p> Results like these can be used to inform future observations of exoplanets.<\/p> For example, by revealing more about how to image and study the atmospheres of gas giants in our Solar System, the results could be applied to planets beyond our Solar System.<\/p> New Horizons’s observations showed exoplanets may be dimmer than predicted at partial and high phase angles, and that the atmosphere reflects light differently at partial phase.<\/p> \u201cThese landmark New Horizons studies of Uranus from a vantage point unobservable by any other means add to the mission\u2019s treasure trove of new scientific knowledge, and have, like many other datasets obtained in the mission, yielded surprising new insights into the worlds of our Solar System,\u201d says New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute.<\/p> The results have implications for future missions like the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch by 2027, which will use a coronagraph to block out light from distant stars to better see exoplanets in orbit around them.<\/p> And NASA\u2019s Habitable Worlds Observatory, the first telescope designed to search for so-called biosignatures<\/a> on Earth-sized rocky planets.<\/p> “Studying how known benchmarks like Uranus appear in distant imaging can help us have more robust expectations when preparing for these future missions,” concluded Hasler.<\/p> “And that will be critical to our success.”<\/p>Comparing Uranus with planets beyond the Solar System<\/strong><\/h2>