Uranus blasted a gas bubble 22,000 times bigger than Earth back in 1986 and now researchers believe it will happen again.
Two planetary scientists discovered something that prior analysis had missed last year when looking through NASA’s archives: a blip in Uranus’s magnetic field as the spacecraft traveled through a magnetic bubble of sorts. The new finding, which was published in Geophysical Research Letters last summer, comes as planetary scientists begin to turn their attention to some of the most significant unanswered questions in the field.
Voyager 2 spacecraft captured this red handed but at the time it was overlooked by researchers but later on it was confirmed.
Back in 1986 when Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus and observed a large bubble of gas being blasted out from the planet’s atmosphere.
During the flyby, Voyager 2 detected a bright plume of gas shooting out from Uranus’ southern hemisphere. The plume was about 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) wide and extended 27,000 kilometers (17,000 miles) above the planet’s surface, making it about 22,000 times the volume of Earth.
Scientists believe that this plume was caused by a sudden release of gases from deep within Uranus’ atmosphere. The exact cause of this event is still not fully understood, but it is thought to be related to the planet’s extreme tilt, which causes it to experience extreme seasonal variations.
This event was significant because it provided scientists with new insights into the dynamics of Uranus’ atmosphere and helped them better understand the planet’s complex weather patterns.
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Source: amazingastronomy.thespaceacademy.org
