Posted on 12/31/2002 4:33:49 AM PST by blam
Tuesday, 31 December, 2002, 11:34 GMT
Planet Uranus caught on VLT
A picture showing Uranus and moons (pic: ESO)
The "Very Large Telescope" (VLT) has caught a remarkable image of the planet Uranus circled by some of its moons. The rings of the planet - which is 3,000 million kilometres away from Earth - were clearly displayed in the image.
The rings are almost undetectable from Earth in visible light.
The VLT is located at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile.
The image was obtained in near-infrared, and contains seven of its moons.
VLT is based at Paranal in Chile Two of the moons in the picture, Puck and Portia, were only found in the 1980s as the Voyager probe prepared for its flyby of the planet.
Uranus, which is at a distance from the Earth equivalent to 20 times the distance between the Earth and sun, was first spotted by William Herschel in 1781.
The UK contributes approximately 20% of the cost of the European Southern Observatory.
Shadows do look a little odd, I think it's just the angles of the arrays.(?)
Actually, what I was laughing at was the name "Very Large Telescope." But your anecdote made me laugh, too!
Yup. To all the other planets and their moons.
Nevertheless it was reported by an amateur astronomer in the 50s in Sky&Telescope.
Another Har de har har.
I'm glad everyone ignored your plea. ;')
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