PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA00346: Color Voyager 2 Image Showing Crescent Uranus
 Target Name:  Uranus
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Voyager
 Spacecraft:  Voyager 2
 Product Size:  540 x 800 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  U.S. Geological Survey
 Addition Date:  1998-06-04
 Primary Data Set:  Voyager EDRs
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA00346.tif (231.9 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA00346.jpg (17.76 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This image shows a crescent Uranus, a view that Earthlings never witnessed until Voyager 2 flew near and then beyond Uranus on January 24, 1986. This planet's natural blue-green color is due to the absorption of redder wavelengths in the atmosphere by traces of methane gas. Uranus' diameter is 32,500 miles, a little over four times that of Earth. The hazy blue-green atmosphere probably extends to a depth of around 5,400 miles, where it rests above what is believed to be an icy or liquid mixture (an 'ocean') of water, ammonia, methane, and other volatiles, which in turn surrounds a rocky core perhaps a little smaller than Earth.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/USGS

Image Addition Date:
1998-06-04