Could you survive on Uranus for longer than expected?

The day on Uranus has been a little longer thanks to a more accurate measurement of its rotation period, which should help scientists plan missions to investigate the gas giant.

Understanding the rotation period of giant planets in the solar system is much more difficult than anything like Mars or Earth, as ferocious wind storms make direct measurements impossible.

The first measurement of Uranus rotation was from the Voyager 2 probe, which took the closest approach on January 24, 1986. Researchers at the time determined that the planet’s magnetic field was 59 degrees from the north of the sky, but the axis of rotation was offset by 98 degrees.

These extreme offsets mean that Uranus effectively “lying down” compared to Earth, while the magnetic pole follows a larger circle as the planet rotates. Researchers at the time found that they completed a full rotation every 17 hours by measuring both the magnetic field and the radio emissions from the aurora.

now, Laurent Ramie The Paris Observatory in France and his colleagues measured it 28 seconds longer. More importantly, their measurements are 1000 times more accurate, reducing the margin of error per second.

Researchers looked at images of Uranus’ ultraviolet aurora taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2011 and 2022, and tracked the long-term evolution of the planet’s magnetic poles and circled the axis of rotation.

The error in previous measurements meant that it became impossible to accurately determine the location of Uranus after more than a few years, but the new measurements should be effective for decades. This means that it may depend on calculating mission-critical objectives, such as the probes may orbit and enter the planet’s atmosphere.

Tim Bedding The University of Sydney in Australia calls the team’s measurement techniques “very smart,” but points out that the new period of the day on Uranus doesn’t differ much, and is within the scope of old calculation errors. “That hasn’t changed much,” Bedding says. “Now, the more convenient it is, the more accurate it becomes.”