At certain points in its orbit, the occultation of a star by Uranus would not reveal the existence of Uranus’ rings. What points are these? How often does this circumstance arise?
2006-11-30 06:30:35 · 2 answers · asked by Drik M 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I think the rings of Uranus are too tenuous to occlude starlight to a detectable degree. I don't believe those rings were actually discovered until we sent out probes to a point where they were directly visible.
30 NOV 06, 1953 hrs, GMT.
2006-11-30 06:49:19 · answer #1 · answered by cdf-rom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
With respect to the other planets, Uranus rotates on its side. That is, the tilt on it's rotational axis is 90 degrees with respect to the direction from it to the sun. At certain points in its orbit, that means that part of the rings will be behind the planet and other parts in front of it as we view it. That makes it very difficult to perform occultation measurements
2006-11-30 06:54:28 · answer #2 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋