Planet Uranus: Auroral Activity | James Webb Space Telescope

Planet Uranus: Auroral Activity | James Webb Space Telescope

Uranus (January 2025)

Two bright auroral bands were detected near Uranus’s magnetic poles, together with reduced emission and ion density in part of the region between the two bands (a feature likely linked to transitions in magnetic field lines).

Uranus collage (January 2025, labeled version)

For the first time, an international team of astronomers have mapped the vertical structure of Uranus’s upper atmosphere, uncovering how temperature and charged particles vary with height across the planet. Using Webb’s NIRSpec instrument, the team detected the faint glow from molecules high above the clouds. These unique data provide the most detailed portrait yet of where the planet’s auroras form, how they are influenced by its unusually tilted magnetic field, and how Uranus’s atmosphere has continued to cool over the past three decades. The results offer a new window into how ice-giant planets distribute energy in their upper layers.

Two bright auroral bands were detected near Uranus’s magnetic poles, together with reduced emission and ion density in part of the region between the two bands (a feature likely linked to transitions in magnetic field lines).

L2 is one of the so-called Lagrangian points, discovered by mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange. Lagrangian points are locations in space where gravitational forces and the orbital motion of a body balance each other. Therefore, they can be used by spacecraft to 'hover'. L2 is located 1.5 million kilometers directly 'behind' the Earth as viewed from the Sun. It is about four times further away from the Earth than the Moon ever gets and orbits the Sun at the same rate as the Earth.

It is a great place observe the larger Universe. A spacecraft would not have to make constant orbits of the Earth that result in it passing in and out of the Earth's shadow and causing it to heat up and cool down, distorting its view. Free from this restriction and far away from the heat radiated by Earth, L2 provides a much more stable viewpoint.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, P. Tiranti, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
Release Date: Feb. 19, 2026

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