CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Recent findings indicate a slight increase in the length of a day on Uranus.
New research released on Monday reveals that the Hubble Space Telescope has precisely measured Uranus's rotation period. The data confirms that the planet completes one full rotation in 17 hours, 14 minutes, and 52 seconds. This is 28 seconds longer than previous calculations made by NASA's Voyager 2 mission in the 1980s.
An international team, spearheaded by French researchers, analyzed a decade of aurora observations on the icy planet to monitor the movement of its magnetic poles. This extensive monitoring has provided a more accurate measurement of Uranus's rotation. Being the seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus takes approximately 84 Earth years to complete one orbit.
According to a statement, lead author Laurent Lamy from the Paris Observatory emphasized that "The continuous observations from Hubble were crucial" for achieving this level of precision.
Lamy and his team suggest that this novel method can be applied to determine the rotation of any celestial body that features auroras and a magnetosphere.
These findings, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, coincide with the upcoming 35th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's launch. It was transported into orbit by NASA's space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990.