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IMAGE BY NASA/JPL
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By Victoria Jaggard
Astronomer William Herschel almost torpedoed one of the most beloved jokes among space nerds. In 1781 he discovered a far-off object that he at first assumed was a comet or a star. A couple years later, observations made by fellow astronomer
Johann Elert Bode confirmed that the object was actually a planet. Herschel made a bid to name the new world after King George III of England. But Bode’s idea won out. Every other planet was named for a deity, he argued, so this one should take the moniker of the Greek god of the sky: Uranus (pictured above).
More than 240 years later, we know surprisingly little about the seventh planet from the sun. But as Nadia Drake reports, that may be about to change. In a report released this week, planetary astronomers have recommended to NASA and the National Science Foundation that they make a mission to Uranus their top priority for the next 10 years. The proposed mission would include a small probe that would explore the planet’s atmosphere and an orbiter that would fly through the Uranian system for years, investigating the oddball planet and its retinue of 27 moons.
There’s good reason to set our sights on this icy world. Of the thousands of planets found orbiting other stars, many seem to be about the same size as Uranus. That means unlocking its secrets could help us understand one of the most common types of worlds in the cosmos. “The returns for this mission will be so rich, they will touch on almost every field of planetary science,” says Heidi Hammel of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.
Here’s the full story.
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