If David Lynch was commissioned to develop the planet, then this planet would definitely become Uranium. Because with this degree of strangeness that surround it and sometimes have no logical explanation, could handle only the Director who directed “twin Peaks”. And one of these oddities is that the angle of the rotation axis of Uranus is 98 degrees, which suggests that the planet actually rotates on its side. Of course, there are a few ideas why this is so, but the exact cause is unable to name a single scientist.
A new study from Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that the unusual rotation of Uranus can cause other strange features of this planet. The magnetosphere of Uranus, that is, the magnetic field surrounding the planet, flips, and even “turned off” every day of her rotation.
If the magnetosphere of the Earth is organized quite neatly with the North and South magnetic poles, because of the crooked “drunk” of rotation of the Uranus magnetosphere it is organized much chaotic. The planet’s magnetic field is very specific and is tilted at 60 degrees relative to the axis of rotation. Because of such features of the magnetosphere of Uranus from time to time “laid bare” and then again “closed”.
As pointed out by Carol Pati, a senior teacher from Georgia Institute of Technology and co-author of a recent study, the magnetic field of Uranus “turns” with every turn of the planet. Using computational models and data obtained by the space probe “Voyager 2”, Pati and her colleagues from the same Institute Georgia was able to create a computer simulation of the magnetosphere of Uranus and reveal some of her secrets, including how every day the magnetosphere blocks the, then, Vice versa, flow of the solar wind. The results of the study were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.
“Studies show that the magnetic field of Uranus is very dynamic and relies on a feature of the rotation of the planet. This fact completely distinguishes Uranium from the Earth and other planets of the Solar system”.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of oddities associated with Uranus, the researchers note. The first (and only) direct observation of the Uranium took place in 1986, when the spacecraft flew by the ice giant. Then the scientists were only 5 days in order to gather the most necessary and basic information about the planet. However, this week astronomers from NASA made a proposal for a re-visit of Uranus and its neighbor Neptune, which could be organized in the next couple of decades. And, apparently, Pati, and her colleagues, I fully support this idea.
“There’s space telescope Kepler, which has found for us thousands of various exoplanets within our galaxy. Statistics show that most of these planets are very similar in size and structure of planets like Uranus and Neptune. Their deeper study will enable us to better understand the dynamics of all these discovered worlds,” commented the scientist.
Uranus never ceases to amaze scientists
Nikolai Khizhnyak