Clouds on Uranus

Filed under pretty pictures, Uranus, optical telescopes, atmospheres, weather and climate

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False color images of both hemispheres of Uranus reveal the differing altitudes of clouds. The color balance was chosen to make the highest-altitude clouds white, middle-altitude clouds greenish, and lowest-altitude clouds deep blue. This color balance choice is responsible for the bright red color of the rings, which are actually gray, not red.

Lawrence Sromovsky / W. M. Keck Observatory

These false color images of both hemispheres of Uranus reveal the differing altitudes of clouds on Uranus. Three images were captured through infrared filters (at wavelengths of 1.3, 1.6, and 2.1 microns), sharpened, and combined. The color balance was chosen to make the highest-altitude clouds white, middle-altitude clouds greenish, and lowest-altitude clouds deep blue. This color balance choice is responsible for the bright red color of the rings, which are actually gray, not red. The south pole is to the left. The storm GS-37S shows up in the right image, at the lower left of the globe. The band of clouds in the north of the same image is about 18,000 kilometers (11,000 miles) long.