back to article Boffins celebrate 30th anniversary of first deep examination of Uranus

On January 24, 1986, a 721.9kg (1,592lb) hunk of machinery called Voyager 2 skimmed as close as we've ever got to the planet Uranus and gave us our first, and (so far) only, deep look at one of the Solar System's oddest planets. Uranus is the first world to be discovered using a telescope, and given its 2.9-billion-mile …

  1. Mpeler
    Alien

    Orbits, rings, anyone?

    "Some 43 have now been discovered circling Uranus."

    "...and there may be bigger surprises in the depths of Uranus yet to come."

    Ring-stinger(s), anyone?

    Not wanting to be currying favor, or anything, but....

    How about NASA send a probe (or two, etc.) to each planet, to orbit, send down a "probelet" to gather more info, and relay the info back to earth? (OK, ESA are doing some, but how about NASA, too?).

    Kind of sad we're having to look back of the achievements of ships launched 30-40 years ago... I thought only we old geezers did that...

    Hey, AmanfromMars, got any pics to share from out your way?

    1. MD Rackham

      Re: Orbits, rings, anyone?

      Really hard to insert a probe into orbit considering how fast the probe needs to go to get there in a reasonable length of time. At least Uranus has a deeper gravity well than, say, Pluto, but the probe would still need to slow down a lot for orbital capture, and that takes lots of fuel.

      Anyone want to try aerobraking in an atmosphere we know so little about, all the while dodging "dark" rings?

      1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

        Re: Orbits, rings, anyone?

        Why not? They are getting better at manoeuvring probes every time, plenty of improvements since the late 1970ies. And flight durations somewhere around 10 to 15 years are quite reasonable.

      2. cray74

        Re: Orbits, rings, anyone?

        Really hard to insert a probe into orbit considering how fast the probe needs to go to get there in a reasonable length of time.

        Or you go slow and spend lots of time getting there, or you use a big rocket. Several Uranus orbiters have been considered:

        1) Cassini's end-of-mission options included being slug out to Uranus. The flight would've been 20 years long, which meant sustaining the Cassini team / skills for 20 years, and Cassini would've arrived with about zero fuel and worn out systems.

        2) In 2010, there was a NASA-ESA proposal for a Uranus orbiter. It had a 12.8-year flight to Uranus if launched by Atlas V on a lengthy slingshot flight (with a novel ion upper stage), or might be launched by the larger Space Launch System on a direct flight of unstated length.

        3) In 2015, NASA was again considering Neptune and Uranus orbiters, with few details on the ideas.

        4) And assorted Neptune exploration concepts

    2. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Orbits, rings, anyone?

      > How about NASA send a probe (or two, etc.) to each planet, to orbit, send down a "probelet" to gather more info, and relay the info back to earth

      'cuz that takes money and initiative, and NASA has neither

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Orbits, rings, anyone?

      "probelet"

      I believe the term is "dwarf probe"

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Orbits, rings, anyone?

      Bothe NASA and ESA have looked at Uranus orbiters and atmosphere probes, but at about $2 billion they've never reached the top of the pile and the shortage of plutonium has made things worse. But there is a lovely coincidence that the mass of Uranus, its moons and their distances from one another allow an orbiter to follow a Galileo style mission using a series of gravity assists to make a number of close passes of the planet and its satellites.

      A mission would take about 9 years with a gravity assist from Jupiter after the first year - Uranus is a long way away!

      There's a complication unique to Uranus that makes orbiters only practical every now and again. Because it orbits on its side, it alternates between showing its equator and pokes to the Sun. To survey the moons the probe would need to arrive when the equator is at or close to pointing at the Sun. Right now Uranus rolling round to show its pole but it'll be perfectly aligned in 2049, so hope your're not planning anything.

    5. mr.K
      Go

      Re: Orbits, rings, anyone?

      Lets face it, it is quite featureless. That is, from a picture point of view. Space agencies are funded by the public and the public want nice pictures. I am sure they can do some false colour magic and maybe some of the moons can turn out to be worth a picture or two, but it does not compare to Jupiter or Saturn.

      How to get your science funded:

      1. Find something you want study.

      2. Will it produce a nice picture as result, directly or indirectly? If no, go to 1.

  2. FF22

    The title

    I see what you did there ;)

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: The title

      Couldn't resist that one - well, this is El Reg, isn't it?

    2. MrT

      Spitting Image...

      ... special news report from around the time of the flyby...

    3. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: The title

      It set the tone for the entire article, any science was lost in the "Uh-huh-huh-huh... He said Uranus. Huh-huh-huh-uh".

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The title

      "The Uranus encounter was very exciting for me,"

      "Every new image showed more details of Uranus"

      "The pictures showed off the planet's unique orientation"

      "It has been speculated that a massive impact rolled the planet onto its side...that Uranus was just born that way."

      How Fox News reports this story: "BREAKING NEWS! Uranus is GAY!"

  3. edward wright
    Boffin

    Distance

    Um 2.9 billion km from the sun, not miles. NASA got it right that time.

  4. Yag
    Devil

    ice giant?

    I thought Uranus was full of gas...

    At least I learnt something today.

    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: ice giant?

      Back then, it was. The term "Ice Giant" was introduced in the 90s (after I, and probably most of you lot, had learned most of what we know about spaaaace). I sometimes wonder how much of my degree course is actually still true. (Most obviously, but surely not all.)

      1. Doctor_Wibble
        Trollface

        Re: ice giant?

        > The term "Ice Giant" was introduced in the 90s

        I didn't know that, all I knew about them was they borrowed a lawnmower off the gods and refused to give it back, the gods have words about it from time to time and that's what thunder is all about.

      2. RIBrsiq
        Headmaster

        Re: ice giant?

        "I sometimes wonder how much of my degree course is actually still true".

        What is now untrue was always thus. We just didn't know any better at the time.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Headlines

    I am getting slightly tired of these suggestive headlines and would like to propose that in the interests of greater variety the new ninth planet, when discovered, should be named Vulva.

    1. Topaq

      Re: Headlines

      How about Mirod. Just picture a classroom scene after the following statement from the teacher:

      "Although fairly distant, there are attractive forces between Uranus and Mirod"

      1. Measurer

        Re: Headlines

        Wouldn't that be 'the wobble in the orbit of Uranus is caused by the approach of Mirod, once every 10,000 years'.

  6. Paul_Murphy

    Or Yormum maybe?

    A recent survey reveals that Yorrmum is the size of a very large planet etc.

    :-)

  7. batfastad

    Uranus

    snigger.

  8. Joe Gurman

    The awful English language

    "When the probe flew by, it beamed back proof that the planet had a magnetic field somewhat similar to our own, although the magnetic and physical north-south poles didn't match."

    This could be read to imply that the geographic and magnetic poles are the same on the earth, which they're not.Last year, earth's north geomagnetic pole was located at 80.31°N 72.62°W, and eppur si muove. Of course, we don't care any more, 'cause we have GPS and Glonass, which will never *cough* fail. And soon we'll have Galileo.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The awful English language

      "Of course, we don't care any more, 'cause we have GPS and Glonass, which will never *cough* fail. "

      As you correctly note, the Earth's magnetic poles move around. And indeed they may go to zero and invert in the next few hundred years.

      GPS, Glonass and Galileo have their weaknesses, but you will never run a satnav off a magnetic compass.

  9. teebie

    If William Herschel had got his own way the planet would have been named after King George, and this article would have been much shorter.

    (I like to imagine the conversation where he was told he couldn't do this as going "What do you mean I can't call it that? I discovered the bally thing. Well, if I can't name it after the king, I'll name it after my arsehole. Scratch that, I'm going to name it after *your* arsehole")

  10. Miss Config
    Holmes

    Finding Rings ( Using a Computer. )

    It had been known since 1977 that there were rings around Uranus

    A story in itself. I seem to remember reading at the time how accidental the discovery was.

    Something about punch cards etc. left in a box and only when they actually bothered to process them

    ...... 'Wow ! Look ! A ring system.'

  11. nilfs2
    Boffin

    Can't take this article seriously

    The more I read, the more suggestive it gets

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Those aren't rings around Uranus

    They're Klingons and must be wiped out!

    Send in the crew of the USS Enterprise to conduct a daring commando raid armed with this:

    https://www.cottonelle.com/go-commando

  13. JCitizen
    Coat

    They should never have named it that..

    How can anyone have an intelligent conversation about it once you say that word?

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