Hubble Space Telescope Captures First Images Of Uranus Auroras

The space telescope has captured some incredible images during its life in orbit. One of the most recent images the space telescope has captured is one of Uranus with an odd Aurora. The aurora in this photograph appears to be a tiny white dot. The aurora is presumed to be similar to those that occur on earth when particles from the sun interact with our magnetic field causing greenish glow.

Historically auroras on Uranus have been small and don't last long. Voyager 2 first detected Auroras on Uranus and since then attempts from Earth to re-examine the phenomenon have failed. With Uranus in the spring equinox season conditions were better to view auroras than when Voyager 2 zoomed past the planet 25 years ago.

With charged particles hitting Uranus' atmosphere and the planets odd North Pole location the Hubble space telescope has been able to capture these two images taken last November. Astronomers believe that the tilted orientation of the planet is responsible for the odd auroras.

[via Wired]