Scientists now believe Miranda and Ariel, the smallest and second-smallest of Uranus’s five major moons, could be expelling vapour plumes - which on other moons in the solar system are thought to come from subsurface oceans.
Scientists have long noticed an absence of ammonia in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune. Scientists now think that ammonia in the upper atmosphere formed “mushballs” by merging with water.
Astronomers have detected X-rays from Uranus using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result may help scientists learn more about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system.
By going over old data collected by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, two scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have made the startling discovery that Uranus’ atmosphere is gradually escaping into space.
Two telescopes have measured the faint heat from the main, or epsilon ring, of Uranus, enabling astronomers for the first time to determine its temperature: a cool 77 Kelvin.
Unlike the other planets in our solar system, Uranus is tipped on its side. This leaves the sun shining non-stop onto its north pole during its long summer, likely resulting in widespread atmospheric changes.
Results from computer simulations confirm that young Uranus was involved in a cataclysmic collision with an object twice the mass of Earth.
After re-examining data acquired by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, astronomers have detected wavy patterns in two of Uranus's dark system of rings' patterns that may be indicative of two undiscovered moons.
