【】
我要评论Uranus continues to intrigue.
Scientists peered deep into the curious giant icy planet, which is essentially spinning on its side, and captured evidence of a vigorously swirling cyclone in its north pole.
"These observations tell us a lot more about the story of Uranus. It’s a much more dynamic world than you might think," NASA radio astronomer Alex Akins said in a statement. "It isn’t just a plain blue ball of gas. There’s a lot happening under the hood."
SEE ALSO:Turns out Uranus might be swarmed by deep ocean worldsThe findings show that all planets in our solar system with an atmosphere share a similar quality: They have vortexes spinning around their poles. Parts of Earth's northern polar vortex can infamously stoke extremely frigid winter events in the U.S., Europe, and beyond.
"It isn’t just a plain blue ball of gas. There’s a lot happening under the hood."
The proof of a spinning cyclone on Uranus was made possible by repeated observations into the gaseous world's cloud tops. Astronomers used radio telescopes, specifically the Very Large Array in New Mexico (made famous in the movie Contact) to see the swirling air beneath Uranus' high atmosphere. (Radio telescopes view a different type of light than visible light telescopes like Hubble.) Researchers spotted the distinctive warmer and drier cyclonic winds.
The cyclone atop Uranus seen in different light wavelengths. The cyclone is the lighter blue color at the right-center in each image.Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / VLA
Uranus as viewed by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986.Credit: NASA / JPL-CaltechUranus is in our solar system, but it's still some 1.8 billion miles away. It's a largely mysterious place.
"The fact that we’re still finding out such simple things about how Uranus’ atmosphere works really gets me excited to find out more about this mysterious planet," said NASA's Akins.
Related Stories
- Strange, unexpected things are happening on Neptune
- Scientists detect something really unexpected beneath Saturn's 'Death Star' moon
- How Webb just changed our concept of Uranus forever
- NASA swoops by an erupting volcano world and snaps jaw-dropping images
- The mega-comet hurtling through our solar system is 85, yes 85, miles wide
Want more scienceand tech news delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for Mashable's Light Speed newslettertoday.
We do know that it's largely made of an icy fluid slurry of water, methane, and ammonia, which envelopes a rocky core. It has 13 rings. And 27 moons that we know about — some of which might harbor subsurface oceans.
What else is Uranus hiding?
TopicsNASA
相关文章
This coloring book is here for all your relationship goals
LONDON -- We are living through the golden age of celebrity relationships. Gone are the days of tort2025-04-26'Pokémon Go' will serve up free goodies on Christmas Day
More like Pokémon Ho-Ho-Ho, amirite?December has already brought more Pokémon to more2025-04-26'Smog refugees' struggle to escape 'Airpocolypse' in Beijing
Winter has arrived in Beijing, and residents are struggling to escape the heavy smog that has settle2025-04-26Kylie Jenner konfirms the obvious: The Kardashian apps use ghostwriters
Kylie Jenner has quit personally writing posts on her app after "a very personal post" that was toop2025-04-26
There's a big piece of fake chicken stuck to this phone case
If the perfect smartphone case signals a bit about who its owner is, then this silicon fried chicken2025-04-26Double parker receives shoppers' wrath in the form of shopping carts
Everyone who has ever driven a car can agree that people who park over the line are the 。 worst 。.。One2025-04-26
最新评论