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left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 01:54 PM Apr 2021

Mysterious X-rays are flaring out of Uranus

For the first time, astronomers have detected mysterious X-rays flaring out of Uranus. According to NASA scientists, Uranus is so massive that it could just be scattering X-rays given off by the sun more than a billion miles away. Or, perhaps the fine rings of dust surrounding Uranus are generating their own radiation through some unknown process. A closer study of Uranus is required to know for sure.

Uranus is cold, windy and made almost entirely of ice and gas. Even though it's enormous (with a diameter about four times Earth's), Uranus is difficult to study in depth. Only one spacecraft — NASA's Voyager 2 — has ever made the perilous journey to the planet, forcing scientists to rely mostly on telescope observations much closer to Earth in order to study the ice giant.

According to NASA, X-rays are emitted when matter is heated to millions of degrees, like when stars explode or when matter swirls around the edge of a black hole at near light speed. Until recently, X-ray emissions had been detected from every planet in the solar system except Uranus and Neptune. In the new study, researchers looked at Chandra data taken from Uranus in 2002 and 2017, and saw clear evidence of X-ray emissions in both years.

Several of these emissions had a brightness consistent with solar X-rays being scattered back outward, the researchers wrote. However, in the 2017 observations, the team detected a possible "flare" of X-rays, where the brightness of emissions around Uranus increased four times from one day to the next.

https://www.livescience.com/uranus-x-ray-radiation-detected.html

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Mysterious X-rays are flaring out of Uranus (Original Post) left-of-center2012 Apr 2021 OP
Oh yeah, sorry about that gratuitous Apr 2021 #1
What comes flaring out of me is not a topic for general discussion. TexasTowelie Apr 2021 #2
They want to study Uranus in depth. lagomorph777 Apr 2021 #8
Where's that damn wall when I need it? TexasTowelie Apr 2021 #9
Beans. Ocelot II Apr 2021 #3
I've had that happen before. lpbk2713 Apr 2021 #4
Uh oh, what's Bloor up to now? FSogol Apr 2021 #5
Two words Jerry2144 Apr 2021 #6
You could have PM'd that sarisataka Apr 2021 #7
Substantially more troublesome than "Is your refrigerator running? (n/t) MissMillie Apr 2021 #10
Too much spicy food? n/t Yavin4 Apr 2021 #11
Goes to bathroom, checks @$$... NewDayOranges Apr 2021 #12
Was hoping for The Onion. Instead, science. lindysalsagal Apr 2021 #13
The Doctor said I needed surgery. sarcasmo Apr 2021 #14
Now that the bathroom is destroyed... 2naSalit Apr 2021 #15
It was that damned food truck burrito! 11 Bravo Apr 2021 #16
An unfortunate thread title MiniMe Apr 2021 #17
"An unfortunate thread title" left-of-center2012 Apr 2021 #18
I know, but it still an unfortunate thread title MiniMe Apr 2021 #19
It's just a fart lunatica Apr 2021 #20
I'm kinda disappointed. Was waiting for a punchline. But it's all real. FlyingPiggy Apr 2021 #21
dammit jcgoldie Apr 2021 #22
"I bet that hurts" My wife after I read the thread title out load. denbot Apr 2021 #23
You shouldn't have pulled my finger. roamer65 Apr 2021 #24
This thread seriously needs to recommended! madinmaryland Apr 2021 #25

jcgoldie

(12,046 posts)
22. dammit
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 04:25 PM
Apr 2021

Clicked in here to make a joke only to find out the first 20 or so responders have just as juvenile sense of humor as I.

denbot

(9,948 posts)
23. "I bet that hurts" My wife after I read the thread title out load.
Tue Apr 6, 2021, 04:44 PM
Apr 2021

There is a reason it’s the funniest planet in the universe..

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