![]() ![]() Scientists believe this model could also help explain why dark spots appear on Neptune, but are less common on Uranus. Neptune has a turbulent atmosphere that is more active than Uranus’ slow, sluggish one, so the methane particles and snow showers prevent a haze from building up on Neptune. On both planets, the middle layer is where methane ice turns into methane snow showers. The middle layer of haze particles is what impacts the color the most. The team analyzed three layers of aerosols at different heights on Uranus and Neptune. New observations from the Gemini North telescope, located near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, were paired with other archival telescope data. Setting an exploratory course for Uranus and an intriguing ocean world The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 23 degrees to the right. This view looks towards the Saturn-facing side of Enceladus. The wavy boundary of the moon's active south polar region - Cassini's destination for this flyby - is visible at bottom, where it disappears into wintry darkness. The view shows heavily cratered northern latitudes at top, transitioning to fractured, wrinkled terrain in the middle and southern latitudes. NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this view as it neared icy Enceladus for its closest-ever dive past the moon's active south polar region. The model also probed deeper atmospheric layers that include haze particles, in addition to clouds of methane and hydrogen sulfide ices. “It’s also the first to explain the difference in visible color between Uranus and Neptune.” “This is the first model to simultaneously fit observations of reflected sunlight from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths,” said lead study author Patrick Irwin, professor of planetary physics at Oxford University, in a statement. Previous attempts to understand this difference were focused on the upper planetary atmospheres at specific wavelengths of light. A study detailing the findings published Tuesday in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. Without this haze in either planetary atmosphere, astronomers believe both planets would be almost identically blue. This haze is thicker on Uranus than a similar atmospheric layer on Neptune, so it whitens the appearance of Uranus from our perspective. The scientists determined that an excess of haze builds up in Uranus’ atmosphere, which gives it a lighter appearance. Scientists have discovered X-rays coming from Uranus ![]()
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