We were treated to a fascinating talk by Professor Patrick Irwin from Oxford University on Wednesday 21st March at The Coleshill Village Hall near Amersham - our normal haunt. Professor Irwin studied at Keblel College Oxford.
He is a world expert in the atmosphere of the planets of Uranus and Neptune - so called "Ice Giants" but as explained they could be mislabeled as they are full of rocks. The lecture was entitled, "Uranus and Neptune - The Solar System's Ice Giants". I knew by the title we were off to good start and in for a treat. The professor has given many excellent talks in the past to society that have been informative. And enjoyed by members of our club/society.
The lecture was well attended, 25+ WAS (Wycombe Astronomical Society) members that gave the professor a warm welcome and sat patiently and listened quietly, and at the end grilled him with question that he replied so eloquently. I asked three questions as I was fascinated with the subject.
There were:
1)Has Uranus and Neptune been hits by meteors?
He said yes sure these planets have been hit by meteors over time.
2) Is there microbial life on these planets as suspected of the moon Europa (the smallest of the four Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter)?
Unfortunately no microbial life is known, it doesn't have the right conditions of life - as you know its not in the "Habitable Zone" (or so called "Goldilocks Zone") like earth and some recently discovered Exoplanets like Kepler -186F, and Kepler - 452b and many more. This is a growing area of research thanks to the Hubble telescope and the astounding and sophisticated James Webb telescope that improves on Hubble image quality and dwarfs it and extends it ground breaking capabilities.
3) What are Uranus rings made of?
The rings of ice are made of ice and debris like Saturn.
He said yes sure these planets have been hit by meteors over time.
4) How many moons has Uranus got?
Uranus has many moons like Jupiter and Saturn.
Learn more about Exoplanets from my favourite podcaster, Dr Becky. Check it out. Dr Becky - An astrophysicist explains the first JWST science images
Dr Becky -The first data from the James Webb Space Telescope (ft. Dr Alex Cameron)
And also the first images captured by The James Webb Telescope. Check it out.
Dr Becky -Why you should believe the HYPE for the James Webb Space TelescopeDr
See the search URL on our site for various write ups of his previous lecture by my college Sandy Giles and society Secretary (a long standing member) - its a treasure trove.
He explained that Uranus lies on its side and is 97.77 degrees. The theory is that it was hit by a massive object billion of years ago, and Neptune is 28 degrees. In comparison to Earths tilt is mere 23.5 degrees and is why we enjoy sunshine and seasons. The planets are round 16 or 17x the size of earth. He explained that most of his research is using the puzzling, Uranus complicated but fascinating science of Spectrography. Spectrograph also know as a a spectroscope or spectrometer. The machine breaks the light from a single material into its component colours the way a prism splits white light into a rainbow. It records this spectrum, which allows scientists to analyse the light and discover properties of the material interacting with it It also contains emissions lines that help scientist identify chemical such as: Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Helium, Ammonia, Oxygen, Hydrogen Sulfate etc.
He went on to explained that NASA's Gemini telescope discovered the planet smelt like "rotten eggs" and this caused a storm in the press. The clouds on the planet contain the gas that smells of rotten eggs and will apparently kills us if we went in them.
The Solar System, Uranus and Neptune are far away from us and the Sun hence the name "Ice Giants". Furthers facts about the planets:
Uranus is:
7th position from the Sun
1.8 Billion miles from the Sun
84 Earth years
Neptune is:
8th position from the Sun
A staggering 2794.4 Million miles from the Sun.
Takes 168 earth years to orbit the Sun
He has also done work to determine the planets true colours. This is complicated process that he and his team have been working on for many years.
The Professor and his team are experts in interpreting and are busing modelling atmospheric models of the "Ice Giants". I'm sure he and his team could earn a Nobel Prize as reward for their work - well deserved.
He showed us that Uranus has polar cap (much Like Mars on it's North and Southern poles) and similar rings like Saturn made of ice, but you won't be able to see without a giant telescope like the:
Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT)
The Very Large Telescope, located on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert
The European Southern Observatory, located on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern, Chile.
NASA's Gemini telescopes, located at two separate sites in Hawaii (Gemini North) and Chile (Gemini South).
See photos below and links to image owners.
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Thee are essential for Professor Irwin's research and explained that he has used the telescope for his research for decades of his career. Especially in the 2020s. He explained further that there is risk of altitude sickness as the telescopes are so high above the ground and the air is dry, perfect for seeing conditions and little turbulence that frustrates ground based telescopes and us struggling amateur astronomers.
He went on to explain that they have mysterious black spots just like the Sun. Apparently they are made of dark cloud particles. Apparently when Voyager visited the planet these Black spots weren't visible as the planets atmosphere wasn't very active. It is much more active now. I forget to ask them how big they are and how cold they are.
The introductory slide - showing images of both planets. Courtesy of Professor Patrick Irwin.
These huge expensive, powerful machines run cutting edge technology: digital cameras, Spectroscope, Infrared machines, provided by scientist all over the world. Including Nasa and the European space agencies and many specialist companies. Not to mention Kepler, Voyager (that are frequently visited the and provide ground breaking images and information about the planet's atmosphere that Professor and Irwin have used for their research and possible Ground Breaking.
In his own words:
"Uranus and Neptune, orbiting the outer regions of the solar system are both four times larger than the Earth and roughly 16 times more massive. They are cold, dark, mysterious worlds that are very difficult to study from the Earth. In this talk I will show how our understanding of these planets’ atmospheres has been transformed by advances in ground-based telescopes and also the advent of space-based telescopes such as Hubble and most recently James Webb, and I will present new observations and discoveries."
Mysterious dark spots
He said he particularly excited about seeing the results from the James Webb telescope. This telescope has ground breaking technology (Spectroscope, Infrared filters, the lates and greatest digital cameras for Astrophotography that Astro Photographs can only dream of and would to remortgage ours houses to buy. The cameras have a large amount of pixels and wide filed of view and huge hexagonal gold plated mirrors and enormous solar shield) and the team are seeing amazing results that will assist them in completing their work and scientific paper (s)on the planets atmosphere. We were shown a phot of Uranus and it was absolutely jaw dropping. The detail of the planet was amazing and much improved over the ground breaking photos of Voyager 2 on the 25th Of January August 1986. It came 56,000 miles of it's cloud tops (Wikipedia).
See the photos of these amazing space telescopes and also links to the image provider/copyright owners.
The Black Spot slide - Courtesy of Professor Patrick Irwin
He explained that in 2030 NASA is planning to visit the 2 planets. So the future is looking bright for these forgotten planets that are far from the Sun but near to The Kuiper Belt (the home of asteroids) I for one can't wait. It is going to be an interesting ride.
We enjoyed the lecture from the professor . He is is welcome back any time. I am thinking of starting Podcast for the society. He is willing to be our first guest and it will be a pleasure with my budding Podcast team to interview and learn about these two plant and the work he are doing. I can't for him to tell us more about his research and the fascinating world of these "Ice Giants). The members gave him rapturous round applause
I left the lecture well informed and now have a passion (its wet my appetite for more knowledge) for learning more about these amazing planets and their moons and satellites. Perhaps I'll take an image of them soon, if he British weather behaviors it self and I can get my telescope out of the shed and use my cameras that lie in boxes waiting for me and to learn Astrophotography (help!), hopefully with the help of experienced, and bare the cold autumnal and wintry nights that are best for stargazing and visiting their glorious night sky - aren't we lucky!
The members gave him a massive amount applause - well deserved.
You can find out more about the Professor and his work at:
Cheers Mark Brown
Webmaster and Committee member.