- Original Caption Released with Image:
-
Voyager 2 returned this picture of the Uranus rings on Jan. 22, 1986, from
a distance of 2.52 million kilometers (1.56 million miles). All nine known
rings are visible in this image, a 15-second exposure through the clear
filter on Voyager's narrow-angle camera. The rings are quite dark and very
narrow. The most prominent and outermost of the nine, called epsilon, is
seen at top. The next three in toward Uranus -- called delta, gamma and
eta -- are much fainter and more narrow than the epsilon ring. Then come
the beta and alpha rings and finally the innermost grouping, known simply
as the 4, 5 and 6 rings. The last three are very faint and are at the
limit of detection for the Voyager camera. Uranus' rings range in width
from about 100 km (60 mi) at the widest part of the epsilon ring to only a
few kilometers for most of the others. This image was processed to enhance
these narrow features; the bright dots are imperfections on the camera
detector. The resolution scale is approximately 50 km (30 mi). The Voyager
project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- Image Credit:
-
NASA/JPL
Image Addition Date:
-
1999-06-21
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