Posted on 10/23/2012 9:39:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
New, exquisitely detailed, high-resolution images of Uranus show off its complex weather patterns and new features of the planet that scientists can’t explain yet.
Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, is an ice giant composed mainly of frozen methane, water, ammonia and hydrocarbons. In 1986, Voyager 2 passed by Uranus and returned the iconic image that most associate with the planet. This image showed a smooth, blue-green featureless world. This newest image reveals something different, a world swept with intricate cloudy bands, much like Jupiter and Saturn.
Uranus is at such a distance from Earth that most telescopes can’t resolve much more than the bland façade that Voyager saw. The new image combines many different infrared camera images from the Keck Telescopes in Hawaii. Using this method, scientists were able to reduce background noise and pick out the details of Uranus’ atmosphere. The team presented their results at the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences meeting.
“We’re seeing some new things that before were buried in the noise [in the data],” Larry Sromovsky, a University of Wisconsin-Madison planetary scientist, said.
Circulating clouds, enormous hurricanes, and a never-before-seen scalloped wave pattern just south of the planet’s equator, were revealed by the new composite images. The braid-like scalloped pattern could be caused by wind shear or atmospheric instability, but the cause is unknown so far. The data also showed that hydrogen, helium and methane clouds race by in the atmosphere at 560 miles an hour.
The image revealed the bands around Uranus, highlighting an important quirk of the planet. Uranus is tilted almost completely on its side, with the cloud bands running up and down instead of side to side like those on Jupiter do. Uranus’ North Pole features unusual convective spots that may indicate the presence of an enormous polar hurricane.
It appears weather systems are fairly stable on Uranus, like the other giant planets in our solar system. The weather systems often remain at the same latitude for years at a time, with planet-wide storms that are much less intense than similar weather on Earth. The Sun drives weather and it is 900 times weaker in its effect on Uranus than on Earth. Sometimes, however, Uranian storms have bizarre changes in shape and size that seem to be more powerful than would be possible given the little amount of solar energy that arrives in the outer solar system.
My lawyer will be calling my doctor this afternoon!
That’s why most liberals use their noses instead.
although the overall temperature of Uranus is very cold, some aspects of Uranus atmosphere and geology are extremely hot
http://library.thinkquest.org/C002416/uranus/index.htm
I remember reading recently that the mechanism for the high temperatures in/on Uranus are not clearly understood, and it is accepted that the energy Uranus receives from the Sun is too weak, too little to be the factor
Haven’t had a good “Uranus” thread in a while.
Fry: Did you build the Smelloscope?
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: No, I remembered that I’d built one last year. Go ahead, try it. You’ll find that every heavenly body has its own particular scent. Here, I’ll point it at Jupiter.
Fry: Smells like strawberries.
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Exactly. And now, Saturn.
Fry: Pine needles. Oh, man, this is great... hey, as long as you don’t make me smell Uranus.
Leela: I don’t get it.
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: I’m sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What’s it called now?
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Urrectum. Here, let me locate it for you.
Fry: No, no, I, I think I’ll just smell around a bit over here.
- Futurama
Nothing new here.
OMG! It’s climate change! Quick! Launch some wind turbines and electric cars at it! Maybe throw in some birkenstock wearing hippies on bicycles too!
I used to wear Birkenstocks.......until I couldn’t afford them anymore, thanks to Obama..............
Evacuate the galaxy! Scientists have detected foul winds emanating from Uranus.
Thanks Red Badger. I guess this explains that cloud of gas coming from Uranus.
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