Aurora in Uranus

2012/04/18 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

NASA's Hubble Telescope has captured images of the aurora of Uranus. In November 2011, two auroras were detected that look like white spots and have been recently communicated. They were at the magnetic north pole of Uranus and lasted only a few minutes. Before, in 1986, the Voyager probe also took auro images in Uranus, but since then it has not been observed. As in the terrain, auroras are formed by the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetic field of the planet. These auroras will serve to know better the curious magnetic field of Uranus. In fact, the magnetic field of Uranus is asymmetric, much more powerful in the magnetic north pole than in the South, and the axis of the field is 60º of the axis of rotation (the rotation is given by the ring drawn in the image around the planet).