‘Traffic jams’ on Uranus could explain its weak radiation belts

There may have been a solution to the mystery surrounding Uranus’ weak radiation belts and its location in the ice giant Uranus.

The weakness of the belts may be linked to the planet’s quirky tilted and lopsided magnetic field, which may explain the belts’ peculiar weakness. The field could also be causing “traffic jams” if particles are whipping around the globe as a result of the field, reported Space.

As far back as January 1986, the mystery of Voyager 2 has been around since the probe visited Uranus on its way to leaving our solar system, as evidenced by its exit in 2018.

As a matter of fact, the spacecraft has discovered that Uranus’ magnetic field is asymmetric; it tilts about 60° away from its spin axis, mirroring Uranus’ magnetic field. Moreover, the Voyager 2 mission also determined that the radiation belts of Uranus, which are made up of particles that are trapped by this magnetic field, are 100 times weaker than what was predicted by the theoretical models.

Using data from Voyager 2 simulations, a new research is suggesting that the two strange aspects of the ice giant may be related, as derived from a new study that uses simulations of the ice giant.

Unlike Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, it also has a very ‘traditional’ magnetic field shape, which is known as a dipole, which is not unlike the magnetic fields of all the other planets in the solar system, and it also has a magnetic field like no other planet. Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn all have very strong intrinsic magnetic fields.

As he stated, this is the same magnetic field shape that we are used to seeing from our everyday bar magnets. However, at Uranus’ magnetic field, this is not the case at all. At Uranus’ magnetic field, it is highly asymmetric – and it becomes increasingly so as we get closer to the surface.

Timenews1 provided that information.