NASA wants to probe Uranus in search of gas

Via Yahoo News

We hear a lot about Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and that’s because we have extremely fancy hardware floating around and, in some cases, cruising on the surface of those planets. The planets that lie further away from the Sun don’t get nearly as much attention, but they may soon, as NASA is currently spitballing some missions that will give us a better look at Uranus than we’ve ever gotten.

The theoretical missions, which would see NASA spacecraft heading to both Uranus and Neptune, would be of huge scientific benefit. The idea is to determine what the planets are made of, get an idea of the atmospheric composition, and take lots of fantastic photographs, too. Researchers hope to study the weather and overall climate of the planets, while determining how they fit into the overall makeup of our Solar System.

Both Uranus and Neptune still hold many secrets yet to be revealed, and the proposed missions would include both flybys and an orbiter that would send an atmospheric probe to Uranus in order to sample its gasses and detect elements. A similar option exists for Neptune, though the actual details of the mission(s) would need to be fully fleshed out before it comes anywhere near a formal proposal.

The missions are still a long way from reality, both in funding and in timeframe. NASA says that 2030 through 2036 would be feasible for a Uranus trip, while a Neptune mission would need to take place before 2030 or after 2040, due to the timing of a gravity-assisted boost around Jupiter.

NASA wants to probe Uranus in search of gas

Don't know about the kind of gasses they'll find on Uranus, but Dr. Simons will be sending a probe to Myanus before school starts back but I can tell ya I'm not too thrilled about the mission.

Nope.

Nope.

Ah, come on. Just one.

Back to Uranus. It was the first planet discovered with the use of a telescope(William Herschel). The big gaseous planet is tipped over on its side with an axial angle of 98 degrees. I have heard Uranus motion described as "rolling around the sun on its side."

Uranus has one of my favorite moons in our solar system: Miranda. Miranda has some very interesting and very strange surface features, plus one of my favorite names.

You're in rare form tonight SF.

Come on Owl, as long as it is PG13, just go for it!

Uranus as seen from Miranda: (Voyager 2,Jan '86) Artist added the dark rings.

Voyager 2 flyover of Miranda:

Bright spot on Uranus here is likely a cloud of methane:

Sure, Uranus is big… but how big is it? There are so many ways we can measure the size of Uranus, so let’s look at all of them.

First, let’s take a look at diameter. The diameter of Uranus is 51,118 km across. For comparison, this is about 4 times bigger than Earth.

Now, let’s look at volume. The total volume of Uranus is 6.833×1013 km3. Again, for comparison, you could fit 63 Earths inside Uranus, and still have room to spare.

Next, mass. The mass of Uranus is 8.68×1025 kg. This is about 14.5 times more massive than Earth. This sounds like a lot, but this makes Uranus the smallest of the outer planets, smaller even than Neptune.

How about surface area? The surface area of Uranus is 8.1×109 km2. This would let you flatten out almost 16 Earths to cover the surface area of Uranus.

Size of Uranus - Universe Today

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Sure, Uranus is big… but how big is it? There are so many ways we can measure the size of Uranus, so let’s look at all of them.

 

First, let’s take a look at diameter. The diameter of Uranus is 51,118 km across. For comparison, this is about 4 times bigger than Earth.

 

Now, let’s look at volume. The total volume of Uranus is 6.833×1013 km3. Again, for comparison, you could fit 63 Earths inside Uranus, and still have room to spare.

 

Next, mass. The mass of Uranus is 8.68×1025 kg. This is about 14.5 times more massive than Earth. This sounds like a lot, but this makes Uranus the smallest of the outer planets, smaller even than Neptune.

 

How about surface area? The surface area of Uranus is 8.1×109 km2. This would let you flatten out almost 16 Earths to cover the surface area of Uranus.

 

Size of Uranus - Universe Today

Good stuff.

Size of Uranus.... 63 Earth's inside Uranus. Love it!!! So much fun to be had with that planet. BTW, I saw Uranus earlier this month just to the upper left of Venus in the pre-dawn sky with binocs. It was a blue-green dot.

NASA is going to have to buy me a drink or two first...and definitely dinner.

Nope.

Ah, come on. Just one.

The final frontier.

You're in rare form tonight SF.

 

Come on Owl, as long as it is PG13, just go for it!

Oh, g! You Devil

It's not the fear of a government agency probing me. That's a known known.

It's the embedded link in the Yahoo story - "Don't miss: This awesome web tool...." That's a known unknown. Wanted to click on it, butt... I... just... can't... doo... it! :arghh:

Formula for a happy owl? = g(astronomy + gastroenterology + locker room humor).

Only on BGP! :sssh:

Edit: Remember why I deleted my post last night. "Last post by" header reads -

NASA wants to probe

Uranus in ...

Tuesday, 07:37 AM by

Runcible Owl

:lol: