Uranus

The planet Uranus, which was discoved on March 13, 1781 by Friedrich W. Herschel who thought it was a comet, is the 7th planet of our Solar System. Its average distance from the Sun is approximately 2.8 billion kilometers and takes about 84 years to orbit it. In the image above, Uranus is the bluish-white star near the center. The bluish-white color is a result of its methane rich atmosphere which reflects blue light and absorbs red light. Although the planet appears as a disk in this image, that is merely a result of the diffraction of the optics. At this distance and focal length, Uranus would still appear as nearly a point source.

Image Specifications:

     •  Instrument:  Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L @ f2.8
     •  Camera:  Canon 20Da
     •  Filters:  Hutech IDAS LPS (Light Pollution)
     •  Mount:  Losmandy GM-8 Equatorial
     •  Guiding:  None
     •  Time / Date :  September 26, 2006, 9:00PM EST
     •  Location:  Coyle Field, NJ
     •  Weather:  Clear, 55degF
     •  Primary Exposure :  5 x 120sec, ISO 1600, RAW, average combined
     •  Calibration Frames:  5 x 120sec, ISO 1600, RAW, average combined
     •  Image Processing :  Images Plus, Photoshop CS2, NoiseNinja