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Planet Uranus Caught On VLT (Very Large Telescope)
BBC ^
| 12-31-2002
Posted on 12/31/2002 4:33:49 AM PST by blam
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To: blam
Ok, no Uranus jokes, BUTT...
Southern Observatory's parANAL Observatory
41
posted on
12/31/2002 7:09:31 AM PST
by
Kerensky
To: WhiteGuy
Where are the pics of the Klingons circling Uranus?
42
posted on
12/31/2002 7:12:39 AM PST
by
Hacksaw
To: texson66; Johnny Shear
I thought they discovered the rings of Uranus by way of a chance observation of an event called an "occultation," in which a star passes behind another object and disappears from view for a period of time. This kind of thing is common with the moon because it is so close, but is less common with the planets.
I seem to recall reading that someone was observing such an event with Uranus about 20 years ago, but when the star passed behind Uranus it didn't just disappear like it normally would. It flickered briefly and then brightened again before it disappeared, then did the same thing when it re-emerged on the other side of the planet. This is what led to speculation that there was a ring around the planet that had never been seen before.
To: Miss Marple
To: blam
Doc told me this but said he was gonna use a very small telescope....
To: blam
Did they find any gerbils in Uranus? (I know, I'm going straight to hell for that one) ;)
46
posted on
12/31/2002 8:20:11 AM PST
by
dfwgator
To: blam
Very cool! Great post!
To: Johnny Shear
Is Uranus the planet that we discovered had rings only about 20 years ago? And we only found that out because of one of the probes that did a fly-by Yes.
And which one has the big blue storm? Should be Uranus.
And which one had the meteors hitting it a few years back? Jupiter was hit by the fragmented comet Shoemaker-Levy a few years back.
48
posted on
12/31/2002 9:39:15 AM PST
by
Vic3O3
To: Alberta's Child
49
posted on
12/31/2002 10:33:25 AM PST
by
texson66
To: blam
This is a remarkable picture for an earth bound telescope.
50
posted on
12/31/2002 10:34:25 AM PST
by
virgil
To: Vic3O3; virgil
"Jupiter was hit by the fragmented comet Shoemaker-Levy a few years back." The suprising thing about the impacts is that the plumes extended 2,000 miles back into space. This did not fit the expectations what-so-ever.
51
posted on
12/31/2002 11:21:50 AM PST
by
blam
To: Miss Marple
EVERY time I read one of these stories I get sidetracked in laughing at the name! Isaac Asimov even wrote a small essay on the topic. He pointed out that the name "Uranus" was a cosmic joke no matter how you tried to pronounce it.
Said "yur-AIN-us", it sounds like "your anus".
But a short-lived attempt to change the pronunciation to "YUR-i-nus" was abandoned when it was realized that this was the same pronunciation as the word "urinous", which means "related to urine or urination".
So either way you look at it, the poor planet is going to be the, um, butt of jokes.
52
posted on
12/31/2002 11:22:43 AM PST
by
Dan Day
To: RightWhale
Over here. Check out this picture.
53
posted on
12/31/2002 11:23:58 AM PST
by
blam
To: The FRugitive
Next in the series is the BFT. *ROFL!*
54
posted on
12/31/2002 11:24:08 AM PST
by
Dan Day
To: blam
The image has been my wallpaper since last week. The performance of this new telescope is fantastic!
To: blam
Maybe it's me, but where is the light source(s) coming from?
56
posted on
12/31/2002 11:28:30 AM PST
by
SGCOS
To: SGCOS
That's a wide-angle shot. Angles are distorted when the image is projected onto a flat surface.
To: SGCOS
looks like the light source is from the camera's point of view.
To: blam
reminds me of my favorite line in Armageddon: "What's Up < guy played by Bruce Willis >? NASA find oil on Uranus?"
59
posted on
12/31/2002 11:35:46 AM PST
by
Mr. K
To: blam
makes you wonder just when Mars was hit- No explanation offered so far can explain those millions of rocks scattered so evenly across the entire surface of the planet.
I say a huge hit, followed by years of rocks tumbling down
60
posted on
12/31/2002 11:37:46 AM PST
by
Mr. K
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