Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) Plains of San Augustin, west of Socorro, New Mexico		Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Atacama Desert, Chile

ALMA AND VLT OBSERVATIONS OF URANUS' RINGS

Composite image of Uranus's atmosphere and rings at radio wavelengths, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in December 2017. The image shows thermal emission, or heat, from the rings of Uranus for the first time, enabling scientists to determine their temperature is a frigid 77 K (-320 F). Dark bands in Uranus's atmosphere at these wavelengths show the presence of radiolight-absorbing molecules, in particular hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, whereas bright regions like the north polar spot (yellow spot on right) contain very few of these molecules. (Credit: Edward M. Molter and Imke de Pater)

Images of the Uranian ring system at 3.1 mm (ALMA Band 3; 97.5 GHz), 2.1 mm (ALMA Band 4; 144 GHz), 1.3 mm (ALMA Band 6; 233 GHz), and 18.7 micron (VLT VISIR; 100 THz). The synthesized beams of the ALMA images are shown as grey ellipses in the bottom left corner of each image, and an image of a point source is shown in the bottom left corner of the VLT 18.7 micron image. The planet itself is masked since it is very bright compared to the rings. (Figure from: Edward M. Molter, Imke de Pater, Michael T. Roman, and Leigh N. Fletcher, 2019. Thermal Emission from the Uranian Ring System, Astron. J., in Press. arXiv:1905.12566)

>>See UCB Press Release: Astronomers see "warm" glow of Uranus's rings<<

>>See NRAO Press Release: Planetary Rings of Uranus 'Glow' in Cold Light<<

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