Uranus’ ring of dust disappears and reappears, surprising everyone

the mission Voyager 2Posted by NASA, scientists were able to provide scientists with many discoveries, in particular about the zeta ring of Uranus. This was the first mission responsible for getting to know the ice giant up close, which is why rings were discovered on Uranus.

The first time a zeta ring could have been detected, it disappeared for more than 15 years, leaving scientists no explanation as to why it happened. But according to a planetary scientist named Matthew Hedman, he is believed to have only a few records of the ring.

The scientist completed the idea by pointing out that “This shows that there is still a lot of information encoded in the Voyager data that is worth a second look.”.

From the point of view of scientists, they completely missed the ring closest to Uranus. However, when an amateur image processor was able to put together a certain amount of images and they could be seen up close, something was “missing”. For Hedman, the wizard is discovered and introduced “The most comprehensive view of a zeta ring found that we didn’t know had been in Voyager data for decades”.

So, finally, Scientists And the researchers had the information necessary to calculate the distance between the ring and Uranus – according to the survey, the distance in question was found 37,000 km – and they were also able to get an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bits brightness.

Meanwhile, in Hawaii, and more specifically at the Keck Observatory, the first impressions and observations of the zeta ring since Voyager 2 have been collected more than was realized in the Voyager 2 observations.

When comparing available data from Voyager 2 and the Keck Observatory, the location of the ring has not been demonstrated across studies. But, according to Hedman, “Something has changed about this episode over the course of 20 years. We are still not sure what it is.”.

Because of this, the discoveries do not end there, as scientists note that in the studies of the Keck Observatory there was a more intense signal. The world said that[o anel] It became noticeably brighter, which means that dust was introduced into the system at some point.”

Check out more information about Uranus and its ring

There are many theories that have been developed on this issue and one of these theories relates to the collision between Uranus and Uranus space rock, which eventually split into small pieces and ended up settling in a zeta ring. Although no in-depth details are known about the event, it is clear that the event was intense enough to cause some damage to the rings, while this was not observed on scientists’ radars.