Uranus is a strange planet that tilts at 98 degrees in its axis and a magnetic field that constantly rotates. Last month, scientists also found that its atmosphere leaks gas at least once a day: A feat that no other planet in the Solar System can do.
Scientists were able to observe Uranus, Neptune, and Jupiter for many years because of NASA's Voyager 2 which is the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space. It entered the space between the stars last December 10, 2018, joining Voyager 1 as the only human-made object outside the solar system.
It was over 30 years when Voyager 2 was sent to space, but it was only now that scientists have discovered something strange in the atmosphere of Uranus. This discovery opens new doors to understanding the strange icy planet.
Uranus is Being Stripped Off Its Atmosphere
On January 24, 1986, the Voyager 2 flew by Uranus and beamed down thousands of images of the planet, as well as scientific data and measurements, its atmosphere, and magnetic environment.
Thirty years later, a team of scientists took a new look at the data collected from the Uranus flyby of the Voyager 2 and discovered that the spacecraft had flown right through a plasmoid. This giant structure of the magnetic field of Uranus can strip away the atmosphere of the planet.
The presence of plasmoids in the magnetic field of Uranus is a sign that it is being stripped of its atmosphere. According to Inverse, the giant bubbles of plasma are sucked from the atmosphere and hang off the end of the planet's magnetic field as the solar wind blows it off.
Scientists call this phenomenon the magnetotail, which lasts for only 60 seconds in the 45-hour-long flyby of Voyager 2. The event happened for such a short time that it only appeared as a tiny blip in the data of the spacecraft and took the scientists 30 years to spot the plasmoids.
Reports said that this discovery is the first time that plasmoids have been detected in Uranus. Besides, this also gives scientists a better understanding of the processes that go on the mysterious icy planet called Uranus.
Plasmoid Explained Further
Plasma-Universe explained that plasmoids are a coherent structure of plasma and magnetic fields. It is believed to have caused some natural phenomena like lightning, magnetic bubbles in the magnetosphere, the objects in the tails of a comet, and many more.
Scientists have previously produced plasmoids inside the laboratory, which include the dense plasma focus, field-reversed configurations, and spheromaks.
The term plasmoid means a "plasma-magnetic entity," coined by Winston H. Bostick in 1956. He said that it is emitted in the form of a torus. "The word plasmoid will be employed as a generic term for all plasma-magnetic entities," Bostick said.
He described plasmoids as plasma cylinders elongated in the direction of the magnetic field that possesses a measurable magnetic moment, translation speed, transverse electric field and has a measurable size. Plasmoids also reflect off one another, as if they are interacting with each other.
"Plasmoids can also be made to smash each other into fragments. There is some scant evidence to support the hypothesis that they undergo fission and possess spin," Bostick wrote.
Read also: Uranus
