Astronomers have discovered the “aurora borealis” on Uranus for the first time

On November 7, 2023, Facebook Nareit National Institute for Astronomical Research Post a message stating: The astronomer discovers “twilight”(Aurora) in the infrared wavelength range Uranus I first got it and after nearly 40 years of effort, the discovery was made using data from a giant ground-based telescope called Keck II located on Mauna Kea. Hawaiian Islands, USA, and this research was published in the academic journal Nature Astronomy on October 23, 2023, led by Emma Thomas.

Keck II telescope It is a high quality telescope. It is installed at the highest point.Mauna Kea volcano In the Hawaiian Islands of the United States, the Keck telescopes are dual telescopes Keck I and Keck II, each of which has a primary mirror with a diameter of about 10 meters, and the main mirror consists of 36 small hexagonal mirrors that can be grouped together. Therefore the images are of high quality.

The “aurora borealis” occurs when the solar wind carries charged particles that interact with the planet’s magnetic field and move along the magnetic field lines toward the magnetic poles. Upon entering the planet’s atmosphere, the charged particles collide with the particles in the atmosphere. As a result, these particles glow. It creates beautiful colored light above the planet’s atmosphere.

The birth of the aurora borealis on Earth results from the collision of charged particles from the solar wind with oxygen and nitrogen atoms. Until the light becomes red, green and blue, it can be seen in areas near the North and South Poles. Aurora It happened one dayUranusWhich cannot be seen directly with the human eye as is the case on our planet. Because it consists of hydrogen and helium molecules in an atmosphere much lower than Earth’s temperature. When they are stimulated by charged particles from the solar wind thus releasing energy in the wavelength range of ultraviolet radiationInfrared

The aurora on Uranus is in the ultraviolet wavelengths and was first seen in 1986 by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew by the planet that year. It will take approximately another 40 years before we can say that at infrared wavelengths we can also see the aurora.

Graduate students from the University of Leicester in England used data from the Keck II Near-Infrared Spectrometer, or NIRSPEC, an instrument used to observe celestial objects at near-infrared wavelengths. Studies on Uranus have found spectral lines from a “trihydrogen cation” or H3+, a molecule of hydrogen gas that decays into a positively charged 3 protons and 2 electrons.

The solar wind collides with the atmosphere of Uranus. This will cause hydrogen gas to decompose into ions. It then forms H3+ molecules and releases energy in the form of infrared radiation. It occurs near the north pole of the star. Which can be said to be this “Northern Lights” On Uranus itself.

Astronomers found that the measured temperatures of Uranus and all the gas giant planets were all about a hundred degrees Celsius higher than in the model. This is unlikely to be a result of the sun’s heat alone. One possible hypothesis is that the high-energy aurora that occurs may be the origin of thermal energy spreading from the magnetic poles. The magnetic field moved toward the equator. As a result, the planet’s temperature became higher than the model calculated.

Normally, the axis of a planet’s magnetic field will have an orientation that corresponds to its axis of rotation. But for Uranus and Neptune, the magnetic axis is tilted from its axis of rotation by 59 degrees and 47 degrees, respectively, so the study of the aurora is related to the direction of the magnetic field. It may give astronomers new clues about the magnetic field anomalies that occur.Gas planetBoth of these stars can

pointing to :

[1] space.com

[2] Nature.com

Arranged by: Adisak Sokwesut, Astronomical Information Officer, DDS.