Uranus observed unusual weather

Here is what happens: a thick, disordered atmosphere, where winds with speed reaching 900 kilometers per hour, a giant storm that would destroy the entire continent here, on Earth, and temperatures as high as -220 degrees Celsius. Sounds like a description of some icy hell, but in reality it is a picture of what is happening on the planet Uranus, unfolding before us on the new high-resolution images taken in the infrared range, which were obtained Keck Observatory, Hawaii.

Opposition of Uranus in 2012

September 29, 2012 the seventh planet from the Sun - Uranus - come into opposition to the Sun. The moment of conflict - the best period of observation of the planet, the minimum distance from the Earth, and hence the appearance size of Uranus, the sky is greatest. Watch Uranus these days you can even to the naked eye as not bright stars on a clear dark country sky, in the absence of illumination from the moon. 

Sunrise at Uranus and Venus

Sky watchers will have an asymmetrical opportunity to spot the planet Uranus, because it will be located very close to the brilliant planet Venus in the sunrise sky.

You can easily spot Venus as the brightest article in the sky just before sunrise, but it will be better to be up a little earlier just as Venus clears the eastern horizon, so that the sky will be as dark as possible. This will help you to spot tiny Uranus, just within range of the naked eye under perfect conditions, but most of the time requiring binoculars or a small telescope to spot.

Uranus

From Earth the Uranus in study by a telescope. Within walking distance of the cloud tops and a pressure of 0.4 times that recorded on Earth at sea level the temperature is -214 ° C. The chemical composition of the uppermost layer of the atmosphere is mostly hydrogen gas while the bulk of Uranus is composed of heavy material. Uranus should be composed predominantly water ice, ammonia and methane compounds that because the most abundant elements (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen) are the usual ice in the solar system. Its south pole exposed to the sun for decades seemed stained with a reddish tinge; a series of concentric waves could be clearly seen in the images processed by the computer and handfuls high luminous clouds swept from east to west by winds of up to 500 km / hour.