Immediately within the historical past of astronomy, a spacecraft encounters Uranus for the primary and solely time.
Puck was the primary of 11 new moons that Voyager 2 would uncover at Uranus. Credit score: NASA
Over eight years after its launch, Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Uranus on Jan. 24, 1986. The encounter and data-gathering was difficult by Uranus’ 98-degree axial tilt and the low gentle ranges, however the spacecraft was in a position to go by at about 50,600 miles (over 81,400 kilometers) above the cloud tops. Many distinctive discoveries have been made: Voyager detected an uncommon magnetic discipline that was tilted round 55 levels from the planet’s axis and offset from the planet’s heart by one-third its radius. The probe additionally found 10 new moons (with an eleventh discovered later in its knowledge), added to the 5 moons of Uranus already identified, and two new rings, added to the 9 rings already identified. Immediately, Voyager 2 stays the one spacecraft to have explored Uranus.
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