NASA observes a polar cyclone on Uranus for the first time
With the confirmation of a polar cyclone on Uranus, every planet with a substantial atmosphere in our solar systems seems to have a vortext at its poles.
NASA scientists used microwave observations to spot the first polar cyclone on Uranus. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/VLA) NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced that for the first time, scientists have strong evidence of a polar cyclone on Uranus. They examined radio waves emitted by the planet using ground-based telescopes and detected the extreme weather event at the planet’s north pole.
This confirms the hypothesis that all planets with substantial atmospheres in our solar system show signs of a swirling vortex at the poles, irrespective of whether they are composed of rock or gas, according to JPL.
The space agency’s Voyager 2 spacecraft had imaged methane cloud tops in the past, which showed winds at the polar centre spinning faster than over the rest of the pole. While Voyager’s instruments did not measure any temperatures variations, the new study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, did find variations.
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