This timelapse video is believed to be the only dataset so far to show a full rotation of Uranus continuously observed by a single telescope.
This was possible because the James Webb Space Telescope orbits at the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrange Point, allowing it to watch the planet for about 17 straight hours.
The video is made from more than 1,200 pieces of spectroscopic data. By tracking the location and temperature of trihydrogen cations and molecular hydrogen, scientists created the most detailed view yet of Uranus’ upper atmosphere. The footage highlights where temperatures and charged particles are strongest and clearly shows auroras shaped by the planet’s unusual magnetic field.
An international team of astronomers studied how temperature and charged particles change with height above the planet. Using Webb’s NIRSpec instrument, they detected a faint glow from molecules high above the cloud tops. These observations provide the clearest picture so far of where Uranus’ auroras form, how its strongly tilted magnetic field affects them, and how the planet’s atmosphere has been cooling over the past 30 years. The findings offer new insight into how ice giant planets move and manage energy in their upper atmospheres.
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, P. Tiranti, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
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