Boston, Apr 2: Astronomers have detected X-rays from Uranus for the first time, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory. This result will help scientists to learn about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system. Since Voyager 2 was the only spacecraft to fly by Uranus, astronomers currently rely on telescopes much closer to Earth, like the Chandra and Hubble Telescopes, to learn about Uranus, the planet that is made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.
In the new study, researchers used Chandra’s observations taken in Uranus in 2002 and then again in 2017 .They saw clear detections of X- rays from the first observation, just analyzed it recently, and a possible flare of X-rays in those obtained 15 years later.
While the team initially expected that most of the X-rays detected would be from a scattering of solar emissions, one possibility is that the rings of Uranus are producing X-rays themselves (Uranus is surrounded by charged particles and when they collide with its rings, they cause the rings to glow with X-rays). Another possibility is that at least some of the X-rays come from auroras on Uranus (auroras are the colourful light show that we can see on the Earth).
