The first two moons of Uranus, Titania and Oberon, were discovered by William Herschel in 1787, and the third, Miranda, was discovered by Gerard Kuiper in 1948. The following 10 satellites were discovered at different times by the NASA Voyager 2 probe, the rest were discovered using ground-based and space telescopes.
The three moons of Uranus, where the research will begin: Miranda, Ariel and Umbriel, will be examined for subglacial oceans. The first and not the best images of these icy moons were discovered by Voyager 2, which passed by Uranus in 1986. These were grainy images, but later, thanks to these photographs, the understanding of space was updated.
To detect the subsurface oceans of Miranda, Ariel, and Umbriel, researchers led by Doug Hemingway of the University of Texas Institute of Geophysics and Francis Nimmo of the University of California, California, proposed using “physical perturbations,” which are small fluctuations in the moons’ rotation. Calculations have shown that the amplitude of oscillations would be much higher if the icy shell of the satellites were separated from the core by a liquid ocean.
The mission is currently in the early stages of planning, but the authors have already proposed a computer model they developed that could be used to search for subsurface oceans using cameras and other instruments.
Source: Ferra
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