Uranian system observed with Adaptive Optics system

Ground-based high resolution observations of the Uranian system in the near IR.

The system of Uranus has been observed in May 1999 by means of the {\sc adonis}/SHARPII+ Adaptive Optics system implemented on the 3.6~m telescope of La Silla-ESO (Chile). The use of the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor on the planet itself and the excellent seeing conditions have permitted to reach an angular resolution of ~0.14'' in the H broad band (1.6\mum). The sharpness of the images has been subsequently restored using a new myopic deconvolution method (MAP) including a specific edge preserving object prior.\\ The images have revealed the presence of a latitudinal structure of the atmospheric clouds on the planetary disk (J and H bands), the presence of the Epsilon ring and its longitudinal anomaly.The most internal rings (Delta, Gamma, Eta) are also visible after deconvolution. Three of the known satellites has been detected: Ariel, Miranda and Puck (discovered by Voyager in 1989). We detect a significant shift of Puck's position with respect to the expected position, derived from the NASA/JPL Ephemeris Generator. We also present photometry of the 3 satellites and of the ring Epsilon using the J, H, K filters.

Fig. 1: Raw images of Uranus in the three broad bands J, H and K. Atmospheric clouds distributed at high latitud are visible in the H and J bands. On the SK band image, the planet disk is dark by effect on the methan band absorption. The ring Epsilon and its longitudinal anomaly is also visible. One can distinguised the presence of the most internal rings.

Fig. 2: The Uranian environnment. Image deconvolved by Lucy-Richardson method Three satellites are easily visible on our image: Ariel, Miranda and Puck.

Fig 3:. Images deconvolved using the MAP deconvolution method. Logarithmic display - North is up and East is left. Comments soon!

	Satellites detected: Miranda, Puck, Bianca (South).
	Satellites detected Miranda, Puck, Bianca, Rosalind and Portia (?)
	Satellites detected: Miranda, Puck and Portia

Choose your destination

Since the 15th of May, you're the visitor number

Here, in Chile, it is now