A near-infrared view of the Uranus system.

An image intensifying tube placed at the f/10 Cassegrain focus of an 88-in. reflector telescope was used together with a narrow filter centered at the 8870-A methane band to obtain near-infrared photographs of Uranus and its satellites. Good images of Uranus were obtained with a 1-min exposure, while the faintest satellite Miranda was well recorded in about one hour. The short-exposure photograph of Uranus shows that the limb is brighter than the center of the disk and brightest at the south pole. The explanation for the brightening of the limb and pole seems to be haze in the planet's upper atmosphere.