Planet Uranus: Auroral Activity | Time-lapse Rotation | James Webb Space Telescope

Planet Uranus: Auroral Activity | Time-lapse Rotation | James Webb Space Telescope

This timelapse video is believed to be the only dataset to date that has continuously observed a full rotation of Uranus by a single telescope, facilitated by Webb’s uniquely positioned orbit at L2 that observed the planet for approximately 17 hours. This time-lapse video consists of over 1200 slices of multi-object spectroscopy data. These observations provide the most detailed view to date of Uranus’ vertical upper atmosphere, showing where temperatures and ion densities peak, and revealing clear auroral structures shaped by the planet’s unusual magnetic field.

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.

An international team of astronomers have now uncovered 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.

Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, P. Tiranti, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
Duration: 20 seconds
Release Date: Feb. 19, 2026

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