Whoa, Uranus Looks Totally Messed Up Right Now

[orangecrush]

Whoa, Uranus Looks Totally Messed Up Right Now
The appearance of a massive white cap on Uranus may seem alarming, but as planetary scientists are learning, this is what a prolonged summer looks like on the remote ice giant.

Ice giants Uranus and Neptune have water-rich interiors coated with hydrogen, helium, and a pinch of methane, the latter of which gives these outer planets their distinctive cyan complexion. Unlike Earth, where seasons last just a few months, Neptune and Uranus experience seasons that last for decades, resulting in strange and intense atmospheric phenomena.


New images released by the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program highlight a evolving atmospheric events on both ice giants, namely an extended white cap over Uranus’ north pole and a new dark vortex on Neptune. A long-term side project of the Hubble program, OPAL is an annual effort to map these two planets when their orbital paths bring them closest to Earth. The new data, captured during the autumn of 2018, are providing important new insights into the seasonal variations on both Neptune and Uranus.


https://gizmodo.com/whoa-uranus-looks-totally-messed-up-right-now-1832461611/amp





I hate when that happens!

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Neat! Although I have to laugh, I first thought that the article was talking about rump! NT

[orangecrush]

5. Thank you!

[lastlib]

9. (that would be UranusMOUTH.......)

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Cool! I love astronomy things so thanks for posting.

[orangecrush]

6. Thanks!

[cstanleytech]

3. I think crazytown beat you to the story by 2 and a half hours but thank you for posting

(or reposting it as the case may be LOL) nonetheless.

[orangecrush]

7. Apologies to crazytown

and thanks for commenting anyway!

[LakeSuperiorView]

4. I thought that Mexican food tasted a little off...

[orangecrush]

8. Uranus

looks like it needs some Pepto!