A plasmoid in the magnetosphere of Uranus spoke about the loss of the atmosphere in the distant past

Exploration missions to explore the boundaries of the solar system Voyager and Voyager 2 launched within one week of each other

in 1977.Today they are the most distant artificial objects from Earth. Now automatic interplanetary stations are located at a distance of approximately 22 billion km from Earth - outside the heliosphere, but still inside the Solar system.

It’s not clear when these stations will leaveSolar system. The specific structure of the system complicates the movement of the probes, since it is surrounded by a hypothetical giant cluster of comets that are under the influence of the gravity of the Sun - the Oort cloud.

In January 1986, Voyager 2 flew ona distance of 81,433 km from the surface of Uranus and collected data that made it possible to detect two new rings, 11 moons, on the planet and determine that the temperature on its surface is about -241 ℃.

Additional study of data after 34 yearsmade it possible to find another feature that scientists had not previously noticed - the probe flew through a plasmoid, which probably deprived Uranus of its atmosphere in the distant past.

Unlike any other planet in the SolarIn the system, Uranus rotates almost perfectly on one side - like a pig on a spit - performing a coup once every 17 hours. The axis of the planet’s magnetic field is 60 degrees from this axis of rotation, so when the planet rotates, its magnetosphere - the space in which its magnetic field is located - sways from side to side. Scientists still do not know how to build a model of this process. So far it looks like this:

In a new attempt to do this, scientists made upa model based on data collected by Voyager 2 magnetometers, which tracked the strength and direction of the magnetic field lines of Uranus as the device flew past the planet.

The analysis showed that in the magnetosphere of Uranus there is a plasmoid - a huge plasma bubble, the length of which is about 204 thousand km and the width is 400 thousand km. The object is filled with ionized hydrogen.

According to scientists, plasmoids are formed when planets gradually dump their atmosphere into space. Its existence proves that Uranus lost its atmosphere in the distant past.

Previous Cassini datahelpedastronomers to build the most accurate map of auroras on Saturn. New data will make it possible to clarify the process of the formation of auroras on gas giants.