Uranus Cyclone With Color Added

NASA scientists have made the first observation of a polar cyclone on Uranus. Using radio antenna dishes of the Very Large Array in New Mexico, they were able to peer below the methane clouds and determine there is circulating air at the planet's north pole that is warm and dry.

These images were generated using the microwave observations – from left, in wavelength bands K, Ka, and Q. The average brightness was removed to enhance the contrast, and three different color maps were used to highlight various features. The cyclone is visible at the north pole, seen as a light-colored dot right of center in each image of Uranus.

The observations used to generate these images were made in October 2021.