{"id":484435,"date":"2026-02-22T20:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T20:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/484435\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T20:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T20:40:08","slug":"webb-just-spent-17-hours-staring-at-uranus-and-found-its-auroras-are-even-weirder-than-we-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/484435\/","title":{"rendered":"Webb Just Spent 17 Hours Staring at Uranus\u2014and Found Its Auroras Are Even Weirder Than We Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

On January 19, the Webb space telescope stared deep into the chaotic world of Uranus for 17 hours, observing as the faint glow from molecules above the planet\u2019s clouds meets its unusual magnetic field. The resulting data helped scientists map Uranus\u2019s upper atmosphere in unprecedented detail, revealing new insight into how its tantalizing auroras are formed.<\/p>\n

An international team of researchers used Webb\u2019s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument to map the temperature and density of ions found around 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) above Uranus\u2019s cloud tops. The findings, published<\/a> in Geophysical Research Letters, reveal how the planet\u2019s eccentric magnetic field influences its auroras and offer new insight into how energy behaves in the upper layers of ice giants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve been able to see Uranus\u2019s upper atmosphere in three dimensions,\u201d Paola Tiranti, a PhD student at Northumbria University in the U.K., and lead author of the study, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cWith Webb\u2019s sensitivity, we can trace how energy moves upward through the planet\u2019s atmosphere and even see the influence of its lopsided magnetic field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giant weirdo <\/p>\n

Uranus has a rather unusual magnetic field. The planet\u2019s rotation axis is tilted over 90 degrees, causing the planet to rotate on its side. The magnetic axis also has a large tilt, nearly 60 degrees away from its rotation axis. Its sideways magnetic field gives Uranus a more variable magnetosphere, meaning its auroras sweep across the surface in more complex ways, according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The recent Webb observations detected two bright auroral bands near Uranus\u2019s magnetic poles, as well as a significant depletion of ion density and emissions in the region between the bands. This is likely due to how magnetic field lines guide charged particles through Uranus\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

It was the Hubble Space Telescope that spotted auroras on Uranus for the first time<\/a> in 2012. Since then, scientists have sought to understand how the planet\u2019s whacky magnetosphere influences its auroral displays.<\/p>\n

\u201cUranus\u2019s magnetosphere is one of the strangest in the Solar System,\u201d Tiranti said. \u201cWebb has now shown us how deeply those effects reach into the atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UranusA collage of Webb\u2019s recent observations of Uranus. Credit: ESA\/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, P. Tiranti, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA\/Webb) Cold world <\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Voyager 2 spacecraft carried out the first close flyby of Uranus on January 24, 1986. The mission revealed a pale blue world that\u2019s very cold compared to its neighboring planets. At the time, temperatures in Uranus\u2019s upper atmosphere plunged below -353 Fahrenheit (-214 Celsius).<\/p>\n

Webb\u2019s recent data also confirmed that Uranus\u2019s upper atmosphere is still cooling. Based on data collected by the Voyager 2 flyby, Uranus\u2019s upper atmosphere was found to be undergoing a long-term cooling trend, with temperatures dropping over time. The team measured temperatures around 302 Fahrenheit (150 Celsius) lower than ones recorded during previous attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy revealing Uranus\u2019s vertical structure in such detail, Webb is helping us understand the energy balance of the ice giants,\u201d Tiranti said. \u201cThis is a crucial step towards characterizing giant planets beyond our solar system.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On January 19, the Webb space telescope stared deep into the chaotic world of Uranus for 17 hours,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[20743,79,193,12546],"class_list":["post-484435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-aurora","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uranus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}