Reading time: < 1minuteImage of planet Uranus. (Credit: NASA)
Astronomers using the have taken a major step in understanding the distant planet Uranus. By combining data from Keck Observatory with the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, researchers created the first complete picture of how light reflects off Uranus’s faint outer rings.
JWST images show Uranus and its faint outer rings. (Credit: NASA, ESA, Image processing: Imke de Pater, Matt Hedman)
The results reveal two very different stories. One ring appears to be made of tiny grains of water ice, likely chipped off a small moon. The other is darker and rocky, mixed with carbon-rich material. Together, they show how collisions and impacts continue to shape the planet’s ring system.
The findings offer new clues about how planets and their moons form and change throughout time.
