Related papers: Uranus and Neptune: Shape and Rotation
Determining the depth of atmospheric winds in the outer planets of the Solar System is a key topic in planetary science. We provide constraints on these depths in Uranus and Neptune via the total induced Ohmic dissipation, due to the…
We present a comprehensive statistical study of the radial evolution of solar wind turbulence near Mercury's orbit using long-term magnetic field measurements from the MESSENGER mission. Owing to Mercury's highly elliptical orbit and the…
Both remote-sensing measurements using the interplanetary scintillation (IPS) technique and in situ measurements by the Ulysses spacecraft show a bimodal structure for the solar wind at solar minimum conditions. At present what makes the…
We perform a suite of smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to investigate in detail the results of a giant impact on the young Uranus. We study the internal structure, rotation rate, and atmospheric retention of the post-impact…
The 27 satellites of Uranus are enigmatic, with dark surfaces coated by material that could be rich in organics. Voyager 2 imaged the southern hemispheres of Uranus' five largest 'classical' moons Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and…
The origin of Uranus and Neptune has long been challenging to explain, due to the large orbital distances from the Sun. After a planetary embryo has been formed, the main accretion processes are likely pebble, gas and planetesimal…
(Abridged) The solar system gas giant planets are oblate due to their rapid rotation. A measurement of the planet's projected oblateness would constrain the planet's rotational period. Planets that are synchronously rotating with their…
Uranus and Neptune are commonly considered ice giants, and it is often assumed that, in addition to a solar mix of hydrogen and helium, they contain roughly twice as much water as rock. This classical picture has led to successful models of…
The Ice Giants represent a unique and relatively poorly characterized class of planets that have been largely unexplored since the brief Voyager 2 flyby in the late 1980's. Uranus is particularly enigmatic, due to its extreme axial tilt,…
Uranus and Neptune are the least explored planets in the Solar System. A key question regarding the two planets is the similarity of their observed flows despite the great differences in their obliquity and internal heating. To answer this…
Uranus' startlingly large obliquity of 98 degrees has yet to admit a satisfactory explanation. The most widely accepted hypothesis involving a giant impactor that tipped Uranus onto its side encounters several difficulties with regards to…
We study the relationship of zonal gravity coefficients, J_2n, zonal winds, and axial moment of inertia (MoI) by constructing models for the interiors of giant planets. We employ the nonperturbative concentric Maclaurin spheroid (CMS)…
Imaging and spectroscopy of Neptune's thermal infrared emission is used to assess seasonal changes in Neptune's zonal mean temperatures between Voyager-2 observations (1989, heliocentric longitude Ls=236) and southern summer solstice (2005,…
Voyager 2 observations revealed that the internal luminosity of Neptune is an order of magnitude higher than that of Uranus. If the two planets have similar interior structures and cooling histories, the luminosity of Neptune can only be…
Jupiter's equatorial eastward zonal flows reach wind velocities of ~100 m/s, while on Saturn they are three times as strong and extend about twice as wide in latitude, despite the two planets being overall dynamically similar. Recent…
The recent gravity field measurements of Jupiter (Juno) and Saturn (Cassini) confirm the existence of deep zonal flows reaching to a depth of 5\% and 15\% of the respective radius. Relating the zonal wind induced density perturbations to…
The origin of Uranus and Neptune is still unknown. In particular, it has been challenging for planet formation models to form the planets in their current radial distances within the expected lifetime of the solar nebula. In this paper, we…
Polar vortices are common planetary flows that encircle the pole in the middle or high latitudes, and are observed on most of the solar systems' planetary atmospheres. The polar vortices on Earth, Mars, and Titan are dynamically related to…
Rotation and orbital eccentricity both strongly influence planetary climate. Eccentricities can often be measured for exoplanets, but rotation rates are currently difficult or impossible to constrain. Here we examine how the combined…
Small-scale waves were observed along the boundary between Jupiter's North Equatorial Belt and North Tropical Zone, ~16.5{\deg} N planetographic latitude in Hubble Space Telescope data in 2012 and throughout 2015 to 2018, observable at all…