Uranus emits more heat than previously thought

Science News ^ | March 11, 2025 | Ken Croswell

[Red Badger]

All four of the sun’s giant planets emit more energy than they receive from the sun.

Like the sun’s other giant worlds, Uranus (seen in this 1986 photo from the Voyager 2 spacecraft) radiates more energy than the sun gives it, though not nearly as strongly as its massive peers do.

JPL/NASA

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Uranus emits more energy than it gets from the sun, two new studies report — a discovery that contradicts findings from the venerable Voyager spacecraft.

When Voyager 2 sped past Uranus on January 24, 1986, the spacecraft detected no significant excess heat from the planet, making it seemingly unique among the sun’s giant worlds. However, new observations from space- and ground-based telescopes reveal that Uranus does in fact radiate more energy than sunlight provides, two research teams report in work submitted to arXiv.org in late February.

“Uranus is not as odd as we thought it was,” says planetary scientist Patrick Irwin of the University of Oxford, a coauthor on one of the studies.

Both teams say that Uranus, which takes 84 years to orbit the sun, reflects a bit more sunlight into space than Voyager had found. This means that the sun heats the planet less than previously thought, suggesting that Uranus must generate some heat to explain its temperature.

The upshot: “Uranus does indeed have internal heat,” says Liming Li, a planetary scientist at the University of Houston and coauthor on the other study. This heat is presumably left over from the planet’s birth.

[HYPOCRACY]

Fantastic Voyager. Send a gerbil next time.

[Afterguard]

Lol! I’m just here to read the comments. 🤓

[Smellin Salt]

Especially after I eat chili!!

[Red Badger]

😁 LOL!....................

[Adder]

Uranus emits more heat...

Well, yeah, especially after Mexican...

[pfflier]

Uh oh, I think I know where this is going.

I had plans for off color comments but others rectum.

[FreeReign]

I remember seeing that meme many years ago on a FreeRepublic Uranus thread and thinking it was funny.....

And Now?

Still LOL!

[null and void]

The moral of the story, don’t light farts!

[Red Badger]

A guy in the Marines did that and set his pants on fire...............

[null and void]

I left Orange County too soon.

[null and void]

Liar!

[Bullish]

This thread’s going straight to the bathroom.

[from occupied ga]

The jokes and bad puns almost write themselves

[Red Badger]

No, really I watched it!...............

[Kenny Bania]

[null and void]

No, him, liar liar pants on fire!

[Red Badger]

His name was Mike Ditullo from Poughkeepsie, New York.

About 20 years later I was working with an engineer in Florida who told me he was from there. I told him I knew a guy in the Marines named Mike Ditullo from Poughkeepsie. He was shocked! He went to High School with Mike..................

[null and void]

Small world...

[hardspunned]

I’ve been mooned many times while on an Amtrak train. On the California Zephyr traveling along the rapids of the Colorado River for instance, you’re liable to be mooned by tens and tens of people during rafting season.

[SunkenCiv]

Plus there are rings around Uranus. Hey, this probably isn't the first one in this thread.

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