MPIA: Herschel and the Uranian Moons

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MPIA: Herschel and the Uranian Moons

Post by bystander » Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:59 pm

Herschel and the Uranian Moons
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy | Max Planck Society | 2020 Sep 14

Observations with the Herschel Space Observatory reveal the composition of the largest Uranian moons

More than 230 years ago astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus and two of its moons. Using the Herschel Space Observatory, a group of astronomers led by Örs H. Detre of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy now has succeeded in determining physical properties of the five main moons of Uranus. The measured infrared radiation, which is generated by the Sun heating their surfaces, suggests that these moons resemble dwarf planets like Pluto. The team developed a new analysis technique that extracted the faint signals from the moons next to Uranus, which is more than a thousand times brighter. ...

To explore the outer regions of the Solar System, space probes such as Voyager 1 and 2, Cassini-Huygens and New Horizons were sent on long expeditions. Now a German-Hungarian research group ... shows that with the appropriate technology and ingenuity, interesting results can also be achieved with observations from far away.

The scientists used data from the Herschel Space Observatory ... The discovery of the moons in the Herschel data was a coincidence ...

Herschel-PACS Photometry of the Five Major Moons of Uranus ~ Ö. H. Detre et al
Uranian Satellite Formation by Evolution of a
Water Vapor Disk Generated by a Giant Impact
~ Shigeru Ida et al
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