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Science 7 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5770, p. 15
DOI: 10.1126/science.312.5770.15a
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This Week in Science

Figure 1 Two new outer rings and moons were recently discovered around Uranus. Using the infrared Keck adaptive optics system, de Pater et al. (p. 92) show that the rings are blue and red like Saturn's E and G rings. Blue ring R1 is associated with moon Mab, and Saturn's E ring hosts the active moon Enceladus. This correspondence suggests that Mab may be the source of ring material and the blue color, because only small grains survive gravitational forces, solar radiation pressure, and electromagnetic forces. Ring R2 is as red as Saturn's G ring and shows the same forward- and back-scattered light ratios. Both the uranian and saturnian rings are also at similar locations in planetary radii.

CREDIT: M. SHOWALTER, I. DE PATER, H. HAMMEL, AND S. GIBBARD




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)