Milestone Monday
Uranus Exposed
On this day, March 10, 1977, astronomers made a significant discovery regarding Uranus—its rings. This finding was particularly noteworthy because, prior to this, only the rings of Saturn were known. During a stellar occultation (fancy words for "watching a star play hide and seek with a planet”), astronomers James L. Elliot, Edward W. Dunham, and Jessica Mink found these rings while using the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. So, on that fateful day, we learned that Uranus was not just a planet with a funny name!
Astronomers discovered nine of the thirteen currently known rings on this occasion. The Hubble Space Telescope, which captured images between 2003 and 2005, observed the two most recently identified rings. It is believed that the Uranian ring system likely originated from several moons that once orbited around the planet and ultimately collided with each another.
The rings are considered relatively young, a mere 600 million years old. Speaking of being old, this is the exact day one of my brothers was born, who is sometimes a pain in my, well, you can guess where this is headed. (I couldn’t resist being a little cheeky.) Happy 48th Birthday, Lance!
In honor of these occasions, here are images from a book in our pop-up collection:
Space: a Star-Studded Journey of Discovery! written by Peter Bond, illustrated by Kim Thompson, along with design and paper engineering by Andy Mansfield. It was published in New York by Sandy Creek in 2008. This out-of-this-world pop-up book, filled with captivating facts, flaps, tabs, and booklets, will take you on an exhilarating journey through the cosmos!
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--Melissa, Special Collections Library Assistant