Uranus – Page 4 – My WordPress Site

Miranda -- NASA

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Miranda, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Uranus’ Moon Miranda May Have An Ocean Beneath Its Surface

by Keith CowingOctober 30, 2024

Reprocessed images show the true colors of Uranus (left) and Neptune. — University of Oxford

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Neptune, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

H2-H2O Demixing In Uranus And Neptune: Adiabatic Structure Models

by Keith CowingOctober 30, 2024May 12, 2025

A schematic diagram of the sulfur cycle on the icy Galilean moons. Not all processes operate on all moons and the circles with E, G, and C indicate which processes seem to be more restricted to Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, respectively. Ice radiolysis happens on all icy surfaces and reactions of radiolytically produced H2SO4 can transform brine salts to sulfates. Only for Europa and Callisto the subsurface ocean is likely to be in contact with the rocky ocean floor but not for Ganymede, where massive dense ice layers prevents ongoing exchange of the subsurface with the silicates. The ocean compositions seem to be all quite similar in the beginning, and Ganymede’s ocean might be the oldest ur-ocean remaining since isolation by dense ice. Subsurface oceans on Europa and Callisto can evolve depending on silicate mantle outgassing into the oceans which may increase salinity over time. On Europa acidification from radiolytically produced H2SO4 may happen, which could lead to an ocean with compositional gradients and pH and development of a halocline. This diagram does not claim completeness and is an attempt to summarize observations, ideas and interpretations. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Ganymede, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Io, Jupiter, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Neptune, Saturn, Titan, Uranus

Sulfur in the Giant Planets, their Moons, and Extrasolar Gas Giant Planets

by Keith CowingOctober 18, 2024October 18, 2024

The left panel is Hubble's actual view of Uranus – the planet is a light blue sphere, with a white circle covering the right half of the planet (the southern pole). The right panel is the actual view of Uranus from New Horizons. The planet appears as a tiny whiteish dot. -- STSCI/NASA/SwRI (larger image)

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Missions & Hardware, Stellar Cartography, Uranus

Exoplanet Analysis Practice Using Uranus, Hubble, And New Horizons

by Keith CowingOctober 10, 2024May 12, 2025

Artist’s rendition of variety of exoplanets featured in the new NASA TESS-Keck Survey Mass Catalog, the largest, single, homogenous analysis of TESS planets released by any survey thus far. Credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko

Alpha Centauri, Astrogeology, Beta Pictoris, Ceres, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Pluto, Proxima Centauri, Saturn, tau Ceti, TRAPPIST-1, Uranus, Venus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Classifications For Exoplanet and Exoplanetary Systems

by Keith CowingSeptember 17, 2024September 17, 2024

Possible methane vapor profiles in ice giants. In red we plot several possible methane vapor profiles constrained by observations from Sromovsky et al. (2014) and Irwin et al. (2021) (we plot the range of the latitudinal variations) and by saturation curves corresponding to Voyager 2 temperature profiles. Criterion curves in black indicate when moist convection is inhibited: when the specific concentration is higher than the critical specific concentration and the level is saturated, then the criterion applies. These possible methane vapor profiles are inspired by the tested profiles in Sromovsky et al. (2019) who talk about "descended profiles". -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Ice Giant, Neptune, Uranus

Storms and Convection on Uranus and Neptune: Impact of Methane Abundance Revealed by a 3D Cloud-resolving Model

by Keith CowingSeptember 16, 2024May 12, 2025

TEM images of Ca-MMT’s ordered and distorted layered structures including nanocavities after exposure to amino acids. a Control sample showing characteristic layering; ordered yet with slight distortions, considered as ordered for this clay material. b Sample exposed to single-organic Lys showing ordered layering only. Clay samples exposed to organic mixtures of c Lys-GABA d Arg-GABA; showing highly-distorted layering and nanocavities with well-defined lattice fringes that are embedded within distorted layered structures. In all panels, ordered layering, distorted layering, and nanocavities are marked with white, red and black arrows, respectively. See Methods for detailed image analysis procedure and limitations. -- Scientific Reports via PubMed

Ariel, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Miranda, Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ice Giant Systems Seminar Series: Are Uranus’ Large Moons Ocean Worlds? The Developing Spectroscopic Picture

by Keith CowingSeptember 9, 2024May 12, 2025

A diagram depicting habitable zone boundaries across star type with rocky exoplanets from Bohl et al. (2026). The boundaries of the habitable zone shift based on star colour, since different wavelengths of light will heat a planet's atmosphere differently. Credit Gillis Lowry / Pablo Carlos Budassi Licence type Attribution (CC BY 4.0)

Ariel, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Miranda, Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Uranus

The Astrobiological Potential of the Uranian Moon System

by Keith CowingAugust 27, 2024August 27, 2024

Ariel, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Uranus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Webb Observes Carbon Oxides On Uranus’ Moon Ariel That Hint At A Hidden Ocean

by Keith CowingJuly 26, 2024July 26, 2024

Phase-folded TESS light curve utilizing all 54 available sectors, binned to 5 minutes (blue points with error bars). The clear U-shape morphology and shallow depth (∼ 158 ppm) are consistent with a transiting planet. Note that the absence of secondary eclipses is further analyzed in Figure 3. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Uranus

Atmospheric Science Questions for a Uranian Probe

by Keith CowingJuly 17, 2024July 7, 2024