Oct 10 1984
From The Space Library
NASA announced that Dr. Richard J. Terrile of JPL and Dr. Bradford A. Smith of the University of Arizona, using a special electronic camera system at the Carnegie Institution's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, clearly photographed the rings of Uranus, showing them to be made of particles that were possibly the darkest found in the solar system. The camera used a charge-coupled device to record the image. Photographing the rings was difficult because they were darker than charcoal and very close to the much brighter Uranus. Special computer processing was performed on the images in order to make the rings visible. This processing created the false three-dimensional look of the images.
Analysis of the photographs showed that the rings reflected back only about 2% of the sunlight falling on them, making them possibly the darkest material found in the solar system. This raised the question as to what the rings were made of, and two possibilities were suggested. Evidence from meteorites and astronomical observations of asteroids suggested that dark organic materials were prevalent in the outer solar system and could comprise the rings. Another possibility was that the rings were made of frozen methane, another common material in the outer solar. system. Studies of the rings were important because they would contribute to preparations for the Voyager 2 encounter with Uranus in. January 1986, the first opportunity to view the rings close up. (NASA Release 84-145)
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