Uranus leaking its gas into solar system, shows NASA data

New Delhi : As NASA scientists revisited decades-old data from the Voyager 2 flyby in Jan 1986, they found shocking details related to Uranus. In the new analysis they have revealed a "zigzag" in the magnetic data, just lasting one minute in the Voyager 2’s 45-hour flyby. The zigzag was earlier not seen as the data were not analyzed with severe detail, and was looked at as an overview. 

Scientists believe that the zigzag represents a plasmoid, a type of structure that was not well understood in 1986.

A plasmoid is a bubble of plasma or charged particles. They are normally found at the edge of a planet’s magnetic sleeve and are responsible to pull charged particles out of a planet’s atmosphere into space. In the new observations from the magnetic data of the Voyager 2 flyby it has been found that a plasmoid release was likely during that zigzag, and probable the atmosphere of Uranus, which is gas, could be leaking into space.

However, the research data has its limitations and this could not be taken as a concrete conclusion. NASA researcher Gina DiBraccio says in a new press release, “Imagine if one spacecraft just flew through this room and tried to characterize the entire Earth. Obviously it’s not going to show you anything about what the Sahara or Antarctica is like.” 

The plasmoid phenomenon on Uranus becomes important as it will enhance our understanding of other planets as well. Mars wasn't always dry and barren, and NASA believes that plasmoids were responsible for the slow change in Mars’s atmosphere. 

Gina DiBraccio said, "Mars used to be a wet planet with a thick atmosphere. It evolved over time" - 4 billion years of leakage to space – "to become the dry planet we see today."