TORONTO – A satellite in orbit around Saturn photographed its first image of Uranus as it hung above the giant planet’s rings.
The Cassini spacecraft has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004, having its mission extended twice. But it had never photographed the seventh planet in our solar system.
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Uranus, discovered in 1781 — and the first to be discovered with a telescope — is an interesting planet. For one, compared to all the other planets in our solar system, it rotates on its side. It’s believed that is a result of the planet having collided with a planet-sized body early in its formation.
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Although the planet is often considered as part of the four gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), Uranus is actually an ice giant: about 80 per cent of its mass is comprised of hot, dense icy material, including methane and ammonia. It, like Saturn, also has a ring.
It takes Uranus 84 years to complete one orbit around the sun.
The image was taken while Cassini was roughly 4.3 billion kilometres from Uranus. For a high-resolution image, click here.
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