Scientists Identify Polar Cyclone Swirling on Mysterious Uranus

NASA scientists uses microwave observations to spot the first polar cyclone on Uranus, seen here as a light-colored dot to the right of center in each image of the planet, in a handout image released on May 25, 2023. Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/VLA/Handout via Reuters

WASHINGTON—It is a world wrapped in mystery—the seventh planet from the sun, Uranus, seen up close just once nearly four decades ago by a passing NASA probe and still warily guarding its secrets.

But new observations from a telescope located in New Mexico are providing a fuller understanding of its atmosphere, including the detection of a polar cyclone whose center measures a quarter of Earth’s diameter, swirling near its north pole.