Planets like Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus seem to have gained most of the glory and attention, but let's not ignore Uranus, a giant planet that deserves some care. Recently, the Bayfordbury Observatory at the University of Hertfordshire captured a gorgeous picture of Uranus dancing with its moon.
The observatory team shared several videos of Uranus' activities last week, which were taken during the November 4 hedge. Hedging means that the planet is opposite the Sun and the Earth is in the middle. While this ice giant is hard to spot with the naked eye, the observatory has done a very good job of capturing this elusive planet.
The observatory tracked Uranus for four hours and filmed a video showing the planet's four brightest moons — Titania, Oberon, Umbriel and Ariel — moving around it. When the stars in the background remain stationary, the objects all appear to slide through space. It's very fascinating.
The second video keeps Uranus in the center of the frame. The University of Hertfordshire Observatory wrote on Twitter: "Lock in the motion of the planets and we can see the orbits of the satellites. Uranus is unique among planets because its satellite orbit, along with its own rotation, is almost 90 degrees in circumference of the Sun. ”
Uranus has 27 known moons, and the last video from the observatory (with some additional processing) shows the planet's fifth-largest moon, Miranda.
You may feel that Uranus's moon naming scheme has a theme. Most of the satellites are named after characters from William Shakespeare's plays. For fans of A Midsummer Night's Dream... Yes, there's a satellite called Puck, but it's too small to appear in the observatory's footage.
Uranus is a truly stinky planet, and if you get close enough you'll smell rotten eggs and farts. So keep making fun of it, but remember it's also a fascinating place to be, where it's always an amazing night to dance a satellite dance.