Keck observations bring weather of Uranus into sharp focus

A paired picture of Uranus, the sharpest, most detailed picture of the distant planet to date, reveals a raft of new details about the planet's enigmatic atmosphere. The north pole of Uranus (to the right in the picture) is characterized by a swarm of storm-like convective features, and an unusual scalloped pattern of clouds encircles the planet's equator. The infrared image was taken using the Keck II telescope in Hawaii. Photo: Lawrence Sromovsky, Pat Fry, Heidi Hammel, Imke de Pater In 1986, when Voyager swept past Uranus, the probe's portraits of the planet were "notoriously bland," disappointing scientists, yielding few new details of the planet and its atmosphere, and giving it a reputation as a bore of the solar system. Now, however, thanks to a new technique applied at the Keck Observatory, Uranus is coming into sharp focus through high-resolution infrared images, revealing in incredible detail the bizarre weather of the seventh planet from the sun. The images were released in Reno, Nev. today (Oct.