https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/nasa-has-been-ignoring-uranus-that-may-soon-change

" Now scientists have declared that seeing the world up-close is a top priority."

" More than a dozen rings circle the world, and some 27 moons cling to it. The planet's atmosphere is a collection of hydrogen, helium, and heavier compounds that exist as ices deep in the frigid Uranian clouds."

" The proposed mission, called the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, would release a small probe to sniff the planet's atmosphere while an orbiter zips around the Uranian system for years. It's a plan similar to NASA's highly successful Cassini mission, which explored the Saturn system from 2004 to 2017."

"The returns for this mission will be so rich, they will touch on almost every field of planetary science," says planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. A plush toy of Uranus hangs out behind her during our video call, and before we hang up, the fuzzy blue planet offers me a high five. "I'm pretty happy," Hammel says."

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Good. Uranus will no longer be the butt of jokes at astrophysicists' conferences.

I tried. I really really tried...

But a tiny probe to sniff... Nope, my inner 13 year old won out.

UTExan said:

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https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/nasa-has-been-ignoring-uranus-that-may-soon-change

" Now scientists have declared that seeing the world up-close is a top priority."

" More than a dozen rings circle the world, and some 27 moons cling to it. The planet's atmosphere is a collection of hydrogen, helium, and heavier compounds that exist as ices deep in the frigid Uranian clouds."

" The proposed mission, called the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, would release a small probe to sniff the planet's atmosphere while an orbiter zips around the Uranian system for years. It's a plan similar to NASA's highly successful Cassini mission, which explored the Saturn system from 2004 to 2017."

"The returns for this mission will be so rich, they will touch on almost every field of planetary science," says planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy. A plush toy of Uranus hangs out behind her during our video call, and before we hang up, the fuzzy blue planet offers me a high five. "I'm pretty happy," Hammel says."

///

Good. Uranus will no longer be the butt of jokes at asstrophysicists' conferences.

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FIFY

So .... they are going to probe Your Anus? Good luck!

Kenneth_2003 said:

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I tried. I really really tried...

But a tiny probe to sniff... Nope, my inner 13 year old won out.

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She must have had fun writing that article.

Quote:

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A plush toy of Uranus hangs out behind her

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Kudos to National Geographic. They either have no sense of humor at don't realize what they wrote or they fully get it and still went forward. Either way that's a great article!

NASA and certain planets.. you wonder why they aren't sniffing around Ur a Nus more? makes very little sense .. because Ur A Nus is very important part of the system

LOYAL AG said:

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Kudos to National Geographic. They either have no sense of humor at don't realize what they wrote or they fully get it and still went forward. Either way that's a great article!

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That imagery of 27 moons clinging…

UTExan said:

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" The proposed mission, called the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, would release a small probe to sniff

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Pretty sure that's what China has been doing to all foreigners since Covid started…. Including olympians.

UTExan said:

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LOYAL AG said:

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Kudos to National Geographic. They either have no sense of humor at don't realize what they wrote or they fully get it and still went forward. Either way that's a great article!

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That imagery of 27 moons clinging…

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Yep, that and several others made it a great read!

In my younger days, I once called into a local talk show on the radio. They were having a serious discussion about pollution and clouds of pollution/haze in various cities, etc.

I told them about a large brown pollution cloud that was in the atmosphere. It was likely going to affect our city. It was especially concerning, because it had small solid bits in it, and could be very damaging to our olfactory functions because it was airborne.

The host asked what was causing it, to which I replied 'I believe the brown haze is generated from Uranus'. They promptly hung up on me.

Pretty dumb, but the 7th grader in me got a good chuckle out of it during my commute.

UTExan said:

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...Uranian clouds."

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Sounds like what Brandon would call Ukrainians.

Send in a bigger probe and stretch space exploration to its limit!

2620 can't get here fast enough to end that stupid joke once and for all. Urectum or bust.

It will cause some grumblings, but the likely launch vehicle will be the SLS.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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I tried. I really really tried...

But a tiny probe to sniff... Nope, my inner 13 year old won out.

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Just the tip of the probe

Hat tip to this author. They threaded the needle of getting in as many Uranus jokes as possible and still steering clear of the editors pen.

Please use Bezos' willie rockets to launch.....and have the solar power panels stream out behind the "probe"

Once you get past a certain age, you can't afford to ignore Uranus. Get that thing checked out.