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More rings found around Uranus

Astronomers aided by the Hubble Telescope have spied two more rings encircling Uranus, the first additions to the planet’s ring system in nearly two decades

The faint, dusty rings orbit outside of Uranus’ previously known rings, but within the orbits of its large moons. The discovery, announced Thursday, means scientists now believe the seventh planet from the sun possesses 13 rings.

In 1986, Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to zip past Uranus and beam back thousands of images of its dazzling rings and numerous moons. It found two new rings in addition to the nine previously discovered from Earth.

The newly discovered rings are made up of short-lived, faint bands of dust grains that are constantly being replenished by erosion of larger space bodies. Scientist think the dust in the outermost ring is being supplied by the moon Mab, discovered in 2003.

posted by: kyawoo at 19:23 | link | comments |
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