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Whoa, Uranus Looks Totally Messed Up Right Now
Gizmodo ^ | February 8, 2019 | George Dvorsky

Posted on 02/08/2019 7:01:28 PM PST by EdnaMode

The appearance of a massive white cap on Uranus may seem alarming, but as planetary scientists are learning, this is what a prolonged summer looks like on the remote ice giant.

Ice giants Uranus and Neptune have water-rich interiors coated with hydrogen, helium, and a pinch of methane, the latter of which gives these outer planets their distinctive cyan complexion. Unlike Earth, where seasons last just a few months, Neptune and Uranus experience seasons that last for decades, resulting in strange and intense atmospheric phenomena.

New images released by the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program highlight a evolving atmospheric events on both ice giants, namely an extended white cap over Uranus’ north pole and a new dark vortex on Neptune. A long-term side project of the Hubble program, OPAL is an annual effort to map these two planets when their orbital paths bring them closest to Earth. The new data, captured during the autumn of 2018, are providing important new insights into the seasonal variations on both Neptune and Uranus.

“The yearly observations are helping us to understand the frequency of storms, as well as their longevity,” Amy Simon, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center who leads the OPAL mission, told Gizmodo. “That’s important because these planets are quite far from the Sun, so this will help constrain how they are forming and more about the internal heat and structure of these planets. Most of the extrasolar planets that have been found are this size of planet, though at all sorts of distances from their parent stars.”

(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Humor; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: amysimon; astronomy; klingonsnearuranus; nasa; neptune; opalmission; ouranos; science; tippedaxis; uranus; xplanets
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To: EdnaMode

dare we say it....... CLIMATE CHANGE !!


21 posted on 02/08/2019 7:27:52 PM PST by Trump_the_Evil_Left (FReeper formerly known as Enchante (registered Sept. 5, 2001), back from the wild....)
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To: EdnaMode

GlobalClimateWarmingChange is now destroying Uranus!

Stinking white men on Earth who drive trucks are to blame. Naturally.


22 posted on 02/08/2019 7:31:03 PM PST by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: EdnaMode

Anal bleaching?


23 posted on 02/08/2019 7:31:34 PM PST by null and void (Hey AOC? If socialism is so grand, why are Guatemalans coming here instead of going to Venezuela?)
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To: vrwconspiracist

Another old joke:

What did Mr. Spock find in the Enterprise toilet?

The Captain’s log.


24 posted on 02/08/2019 7:34:22 PM PST by LostInBayport (When there are more people riding in the cart than there are pulling it, the cart stops moving...)
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To: EdnaMode

That happens the day after all you can eat Taco Night at the local Beer Bar.


25 posted on 02/08/2019 7:37:52 PM PST by Kickass Conservative (THEY LIVE, and we're the only ones wearing the Sunglasses.)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin
Opinions are like, well uranus. Everybody has one and some people are them. 😹😹💨💩👀
26 posted on 02/08/2019 7:44:46 PM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: EdnaMode

The people at OPAL have placed a hidden camera to watch Uranus.

Sick people.


27 posted on 02/08/2019 7:53:14 PM PST by adorno
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To: EdnaMode
Whoa, Uranus Looks Totally Messed Up Right Now

Harvey says it looks just fine.


28 posted on 02/08/2019 7:59:20 PM PST by Drew68
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To: EdnaMode

My starfish is fine.


29 posted on 02/08/2019 8:03:57 PM PST by dynachrome (Build the wall, deport them all.)
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To: EdnaMode

The planet tilts nearly 90 degrees so the pole is almost directly facing the sun now. When Voyager went by in the eighties it was such a bland looking planet only the little circles caused by dust on the lens added any visible features.


30 posted on 02/08/2019 8:08:40 PM PST by Nateman (If the left is not screaming, you are doing it wrong.)
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To: EdnaMode

Because of Global Warming, Alcasio-Gortex says Uranus will melt in 12 years.


31 posted on 02/08/2019 8:10:41 PM PST by ResponseAbility (The truth of liberalism is the stupid can feel smart, the lazy entitled, and the immoral unashamed)
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To: ResponseAbility; jimrob
Because of Global Warming, Alcasio-Gortex says Uranus will melt in 12 years.

My fingers tremble above my keyboard to post the proper reply. I shall not as Jim Rob would ban me to purgatory for a few weeks. :)

32 posted on 02/08/2019 8:20:41 PM PST by cpdiii ( canecutter, deckhand, roughneck, geologist, pilot, pharmacist THE CONSTITUTION IS WORTH DYING FOR)
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To: cpdiii

Ah, you must be experiencing that Global Warming Alcasio-Goretex was talking about ;)


33 posted on 02/08/2019 8:23:44 PM PST by ResponseAbility (The truth of liberalism is the stupid can feel smart, the lazy entitled, and the immoral unashamed)
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To: SunkenCiv

*ping*


34 posted on 02/08/2019 8:24:56 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj ("It's Slappin' Time !")
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To: EdnaMode

Uranus has experienced a lot worse, I’m sure. Give it time, it’ll recover.


35 posted on 02/08/2019 8:29:30 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: ResponseAbility

LOL


36 posted on 02/08/2019 8:30:45 PM PST by EdnaMode
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To: EdnaMode

As long as you don’t make me smell Uranus.
I don’t get it.
I’m sorry, Fry but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Oh. What’s it called now?
Urectum.


37 posted on 02/08/2019 8:38:19 PM PST by Clay Moore (He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people)
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To: Clay Moore

It’s the cosmic dust. The dust off Uranus. That’s what’s getting to us. Stay steady. Heehee. Bwaaahaaaaa this is really stupidly.


38 posted on 02/08/2019 8:48:14 PM PST by Equine1952 (Get yourself a ticket on a common mans train of thought)
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To: cpdiii

So hows Uranus, can you feel it melting yet ;)


39 posted on 02/08/2019 8:53:56 PM PST by ResponseAbility (The truth of liberalism is the stupid can feel smart, the lazy entitled, and the immoral unashamed)
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To: EdnaMode

Uranus, isn’t that Madd Maxine’s district or her twin, Piglosi?


40 posted on 02/08/2019 9:02:13 PM PST by ExTexasRedhead
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