Solar System News

The National Science Foundation reports that there's a blue ring around Uranus. You should really have that looked at. Maybe a good ass-tronomer?

The outermost ring of the planet Uranus turns out to have a bright blue color, according to a report in the April 7 issue of the journal Science. That makes it only the second blue ring to be found in the solar system. The first circles the planet Saturn.

Perhaps not coincidentally, both blue rings are associated with small moons. Astronomers suspect the rings owe their blue color to subtle forces acting on dust in the rings that allow smaller particles to survive while larger ones are recaptured by a moon.