Uranus: Whacky weather, odd rings

Astronomy Magazine ^ | 11/10

[ambrose]

Uranus: Whacky weather, odd rings

Observations with the Keck II Telescope show the solar system's seventh planet still holds a few surprises.

Francis Reddy

November 10, 2004

In the southern hemisphere of Uranus, as summer draws to a close, methane storm clouds brew beneath the planet's thick blue-green haze. New observations from two research teams using the Keck II 10-meter telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii reveal unprecedented cloud behavior, fast winds, and a unique ring system.

Uranus has a reputation of being, well, dull. "When the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, it saw almost no discrete cloud activity," said Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. A thick, high-altitude haze masks cloud bands and storms, hiding weather systems from view, and some planetary scientists suggested the haze inhibited storm-forming convection deeper in the atmosphere. "Most astronomers decided that Uranus was a boring, static planet."

Together with team leader Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley, and Seran Gibbard of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Hammel has been observing Uranus since 2000 with the second-generation Near Infrared Camera (NIRC2) on the Keck II Telescope.

A second team, led by Lawrence Sromovsky of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center, also imaged the planet with Keck II. The astronomers captured several Uranian weather oddities, including a big southern hemisphere storm feature that, during the course of several years, seesaws over 5° of latitude. "It's weird behavior that hasn't been recognized before on Uranus," said Sromovsky. Such oscillations occur on Neptune, and more rapidly. "It is not surprising to see cloud features drifting in latitude, but our models don't show these oscillations," he explained. "We don't know what makes it keep coming back to its starting point."

[peyton randolph]

In the southern hemisphere of Uranus

...the Klingons can be found?

[RacerX1128]

the rings of uranus should be a private matter......

[endthematrix]

"Uranus has a reputation of being, well, dull."

That's not what I hear...

[ambrose]

Still looking forward to the day that I can post a story with the following headline:

"Rings Surround Uranus' Biggest Moon"

[Petruchio]

Ping-Pong!

[peyton randolph]

Did thomeone thay anus?

[this_ol_patriot]

In the southern hemisphere of Uranus

where the Klingons can be found....

That's where the dingle berries grow...

on the sweet and fertile ground.

[martin_fierro]

This thread is effin' GAY.

< |:)~

[peyton randolph]

LOL. Better than anything I endured in English Lit in college.

[knews_hound]

"What do the Star Ship Enterprise and a roll of toliet paper have in common?"

"They both circle Uranus looking for Klingons."


Cheers,

knews hound

[peyton randolph]

[NormsRevenge]

Cool places, both, Uranus and Hawaii's Keck 'scopes.

Keck Telescopes

[NormsRevenge]

KECK PICTURES OF URANUS SHOW BEST VIEW FROM THE GROUND

[Aracelis]

I suspect you'll be pinged to a number of these threads in the near future.

[Nexus6]

"There are no rings around Uranus. I have detailed information about the situation . . . which completely proves that what they allege are illusions . . . They lie every day." ~ Baghdad Bob

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

MASSIVE OUTBREAK OF STORMS FOUND ON URANUS!
SCIENTISTS CALL FOR MASSIVE INFUSION OF PREPARATION-H!
POLITICIANS BLAME BUSH!

[uglybiker]

Sromovsky suggests the uranian atmosphere is "well lubricated," posing little resistance to storms and, thus, dissipating less of their energy. "It has to be a low-friction environment."

huhhuh-huh! Uranus is ...well lubricated. huhuh-huh!

[snarkytart]

The word Uranus brings out the child in the best of us.

I will do my part.
Do you know the atmosphere of Uranus is made up of various gases!

hehehehe

[Manic_Episode]

"In the southern hemisphere of Uranus, as summer draws to a close, methane storm clouds brew"

Mine too.