Uranus Opens And Closes Every Day To Let Out Hot Wind, According To Scientists

 

The solar system’s rudest planet has been in the headings a lot recently, as NASA prepares to analyze its gassy depths.

 

Astronomers from the Georgia Institute of Technology revised data from the Voyager 2, which sped past the planet more than 30 years ago.

 

The data proposes that Uranus’ magnetosphere, the region described by the planet’s magnetic field and the material stuck inside it, gets tossed on and off like a light switch daily as it rotates along with the planet.

 

It’s ‘open’ in one direction, letting solar wind to flow into the magnetosphere; it later closes, creating a shield against the solar wind and deflecting it away from the planet.

 

‘Uranus is a geometric nightmare,’ told Carol Paty, the Georgia Tech associate professor who co-authored the research.

 

 

No giggling at the back (Picture Getty)

‘The magnetic field flips very fast, like a kid cartwheeling down a hill head over heels. When the magnetized solar wind encounters this flipping field in the right way, it can reconnect and Uranus’ magnetosphere goes from open to closed to open on a day-to-day basis.’

 

Magnetic reconnection is one of the reason for Earth’s auroras. Auroras could be possible at an extent of latitudes on Uranus due to its off-kilter magnetic field, but the aurora is hard to detect because the planet is nearly 2 billion miles from Earth.

 

The astronomers say learning more about Uranus is one significant way to discovering more about planets beyond our solar system.

 

‘Most of the exoplanets that have been discovered seem to also be ice giants in size,’ said Xin Cao, the Georgia Tech Ph.D. candidate