Exploration
Further information: Exploration of UranusSo far the only close-up images of Umbriel have been from the Voyager 2 probe, which photographed the moon during its flyby of Uranus in January 1986. Since the closest distance between Voyager 2 and Umbriel was 325,000 km (202,000 mi), the best images of this moon have a spatial resolution of about 5.2 km. The images cover about 40% of the surface, but only 20% was photographed with the quality required for geological mapping. At the time of the flyby the southern hemisphere of Umbriel (like those of the other moons) was pointed towards the Sun, so the northern (dark) hemisphere could not be studied. No other spacecraft has ever visited Uranus (and Umbriel), and no mission to Uranus and its moons are planned.
Read more about this topic: Umbriel (moon)
Famous quotes containing the word exploration:
“I call her old. She has one family
Whose claim is good to being settled here
Before the era of colonization,
And before that of exploration even.
John Smith remarked them as he coasted by....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Typography tended to alter language from a means of perception and exploration to a portable commodity.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“The future author is one who discovers that language, the exploration and manipulation of the resources of language, will serve him in winning through to his way.”
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)