Hubble Space Telescope Reveals Moons And Rings Of ‘Weird’ Uranus

The Outer Moons of Uranus Have Been Gathering Dust, Darkening Their Front Sides

Learn about the unexpected discovery that has shaped new perspectives on Uranus' moons and their brightness.

'Uranus is weird.' Big moons of tilted ice giant hide a magnetic mystery, Hubble telescope reveals

Scientists find surprising evidence that space dust is shaping the surfaces of Uranus' largest moons.

Hubble Space Telescope Reveals Moons And Rings Of ‘Weird’ Uranus

The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that the moons of Uranus are darker on their leading sides — likely due to space dust, which surprises scientists.

Uranus's moons are darkened on one side, Hubble reveals

While Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn have all been known since prehistoric times, it wasn’t until 1781 that humanity discovered Uranus. Just six years later, in 1787, the largest two Uranian moons, Titania and Oberon, were discovered, followed by Ariel and Umbriel in 1851. The next largest one, Miranda, wasn’t discovered until 1948, and the one after that, Puck, wasn’t found until Voyager visited it in the mid-1980s. While Voyager 2 i…

Moons of Uranus surprise scientists in Hubble study

Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope went looking for evidence of one phenomenon and found quite another.

Moons of Uranus Surprise Scientists in NASA Hubble Study (STScI - Space Telescope Science Institute)

) Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope went looking for evidence of one phenomenon and found quite another. The research team studied the four largest moons of the ice giant Uranus, the seventh planet from our Sun, searching for signs of interactions between Uranus' magnetosphere and the surfaces of the moons. (A magnetosphere is a region surrounding a celestial body where particles with an electrical charge are affected by the astrono…