An intense solar wind event at the time led to misleading observations about Uranus, and especially its magnetic field.
Observations in a solar wind event The solar wind is a high-speed flow of charged particles coming from the sun.
The Voyager 2 observations led scientists to think Uranus’ magnetosphere lacked in plasma and had very intense belts of highly energetic electrons.
“We found that the solar wind conditions present during the flyby only occur 4 percent of the time.
The flyby occurred during the maximum peak solar wind intensity in that entire eight-month period,” Jasinski said.
Uranus was the first planet to be found with a telescope in 1781 by British astronomer William Herschel, who was born in Germany. However, 243 years later, we still don’t know much about this icy planet, which is the third largest in our solar system. Additionally, some of the information we believed to be true about it turns out to be false.
When NASA’s robotic spacecraft Voyager 2 passed Uranus in 1986, a large amount of information about the planet was gathered. But since then, scientists have discovered that the craft’s visit coincided with peculiar circumstances. Due to a powerful solar wind event at the time, inaccurate observations of Uranus—particularly its magnetic field—were made.
data from a solar wind event.
The solar wind originates from the sun and is a fast-moving stream of charged particles. Just a few days after the solar wind had diminished Uranus’ magnetosphere to around 20% of its typical size, Voyager 2 flew close to the planet, according to a second analysis of eight months’ worth of data from around the time of the mission.
The region of space that surrounds a planet and is governed by its magnetic field is known as the magnetosphere. The planet is shielded from radiation from the sun and cosmic particles by the magnetosphere.
Researchers believed Uranus’ magnetosphere had very intense belts of extremely energetic electrons and lacked plasma as a result of the Voyager 2 observations.
The fourth state of matter, after solids, liquids, and gases, is frequently referred to as plasma. Stars, nebulas, and even the auroras above the north and south poles are examples of the light that plasma emits into the night sky. Since plasma is frequently seen in the magnetosphere of other planets, scientists were perplexed as to why so little of it was seen in the Uranus region.
Space plasma is the subject of Jamie Jasinski’s research at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is the primary author of the research that was just released in the journal Nature Astronomy.
“We discovered that the flyby’s solar wind conditions only happened 4% of the time. During the entire eight-month period, the flyby took place during the highest peak solar wind intensity, according to Jasinski. “If Voyager 2 had arrived a week earlier, we would have seen a much larger magnetosphere. “.”.
The researchers said that such a visit would have probably demonstrated that Uranus’ magnetosphere is similar to that of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, the other major planets in the solar system.
Future research. .
Methane in Uranus’ atmosphere gives it a blue-green appearance. The planet is large enough to accommodate sixty-three Earths. The only two of the eight planets in the solar system that are larger are Jupiter and Saturn.
Compared to Earth, Uranus orbits nearly 20 times farther away from the sun. It also has two sets of rings and 28 known moons.
According to information gathered by Voyager 2, Titania and Oberon, the planet’s two largest moons, frequently orbit outside of the magnetosphere. It is easier for scientists to magnetically detect potential subsurface oceans because, according to the new study, they typically remain inside the protective space.
Corey Cochrane, a planetary scientist and co-author of the study, stated, “Both are considered to be excellent prospects for supporting liquid water oceans in the Uranian system….”.
Researchers are interested in finding out if the conditions in the subterranean oceans on outer-solar-system moons are conducive to life. In an effort to find out, NASA sent a spacecraft to the moon Europa of Jupiter on October 14.
In order to comprehend not only the planet and magnetosphere but also its atmosphere, rings, and moons, Jasinski stated that a future mission to Uranus is essential.
Caty Weaver is my name.
This story was covered by Reuters’ Will Dunham. It was modified by Jill Robbins for English language learners.
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