Photometric Variability of Uranus, 1972–1996

We presentb(472 nm) andy(551 nm) lightcurves for Uranus based on photoelectric photometry obtained at every apparition from 1972 to 1996. The two branches of the lightcurve before and after the 1985 solstice are offset by ∼0.01 mag inband ∼0.02 mag iny, indicating that the disk-integrated albedo of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Icarus (New York, N.Y. 1962) N.Y. 1962), 1999-01, Vol.137 (1), p.2-12
Main Authors: Lockwood, G.W., Thompson, D.T.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We presentb(472 nm) andy(551 nm) lightcurves for Uranus based on photoelectric photometry obtained at every apparition from 1972 to 1996. The two branches of the lightcurve before and after the 1985 solstice are offset by ∼0.01 mag inband ∼0.02 mag iny, indicating that the disk-integrated albedo of Uranus increased slightly after solstice. The solar phase coefficients of Uranus also increased at about the same time. Theblightcurve is consistent with the 1986 Voyager 2 BL (477 nm)I/Flatitudinal scans. Theylightcurve differs significantly from the GR (572 nm) scan, suggesting that the polar region may have brightened somewhat over the past 25 years.
ISSN:0019-1035
1090-2643
DOI:10.1006/icar.1998.6029