Posted on 04/23/2018 8:12:33 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Researchers have long wondered about the composition of the clouds high up in Uranus' sky — specifically, whether they're dominated by ammonia ice, as at Jupiter and Saturn, or by hydrogen sulfide ice. The answer has proved elusive, because it's tough to make observations with the required detail on distant Uranus. (Not only are Jupiter and Saturn closer to Earth, they have also hosted dedicated orbiter missions. Uranus has been visited just once — a brief flyby by NASA's Voyager 2 probe in January 1986.)
Irwin and his colleagues studied Uranus' air using the Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS), an instrument on the 26-foot (8 meters) Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. NIFS scrutinized sunlight reflected from the atmosphere just above Uranus' cloud tops — and spotted the signature of hydrogen sulfide.
"Only a tiny amount remains above the clouds as a saturated vapor," study co-author Leigh Fletcher, from the University of Leicester in England, said in the same statement. "And this is why it is so challenging to capture the signatures of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide above cloud decks of Uranus. The superior capabilities of Gemini finally gave us that lucky break."
Neptune's clouds are likely similar to those of Uranus, the researchers said. The big difference between the clouds of these two "ice giants" and those of Jupiter and Saturn probably trace to the worlds' formation environments: Uranus and Neptune coalesced much farther from the sun than the two gas giants did.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Same to ya, Buddy!........................
My first belly laugh of the week.
You mean Urectum?
Many of them do. Just saying.
This should be an interesting thread. Is it “breaking” news?
So there is a paper mill on Uranus?
Any bets how quickly this thread gets pulled by the moderator?
Oh this is going to be fun.
Well yes, yes it does.
Kids will love to hear this. Remember when we looked up b**** in the dictionary...just checking.
“Uranus Smells Like Rotten Eggs”
Yes, and sometimes Mexican.
The regular appearance of brussels sprouts, onion, and garlic in my diet will certainly do that.
Not going to change now, after all of these years.
Proudly expanding my carbon (and sulfur) footprint since 1950.
Old Uranus joke but funny again with the latest finding.
Guessing where this thread is going......
I wish I knew some 7th grade boys I could forward this article to.
Great headline
Oh yeah....he who smelt it dealt it......
So does urs.
Uranus smells like 0bama, and vice versa.
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