this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/48332762

A new analysis of decades' worth of observations has revealed that Uranus does indeed emit more heat than it receives from the rays of the Sun.

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[–] MJKee9@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

All i thought of when i saw this pic: great! another upgrade for "two pair"....

[–] leftthegroup 7 points 16 hours ago

I, too, enjoy Balatro.

[–] notsure@fedia.io 27 points 22 hours ago (1 children)
[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Particularly after taco Tuesday

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 22 points 1 day ago

Gas giant, indeed!

[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I broke a thermometer and part of it is still up there. What do?

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 21 hours ago

Sounds like mercury is in retrograde.

thanks babe

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 9 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

So what causes this? The article doesn’t really say. Even though other gas giants do this too. What’s the theory on this?

i assume nuclear decay processes in its interior

i.e. uranium decays into lead and that process releases some heat continuously for a very long time

it also happens on earth, though i don't have any exact number for it. AFAIK, it's what keeps the earth's interior warm. otherwise it would have cooled down a lot more since the earth formed a few billion years ago.

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

They don't seem to have a working theory yet, they just noticed the historical temps are higher than expected. Exited to see what more research reveals!

[–] bradorsomething@ttrpg.network 1 points 57 minutes ago

Could there somehow be a new form of life on uranus causing it to be hotter than expected?

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not at all sure about this, but isn't there decent reason to believe that the gas giants have solid cores? I mean, earth generates plenty of heat in its core (largely from nuclear decay I believe), I don't see why the same thing couldn't be going on in Uranus?

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 5 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

My thoughts well summarised haha they are gas planets with significant mass. In astrophysics class I am sure they said gases heat up under gravity and stable fusion is obtained if enough heat/gravity/mass. They should still heat in the absence of fusion. I haven't read the research but I assume that's accounted for. So is the remaining heat chemical or nuclear? Maybe they have some heavy radioactive elements pumping out heat too? Or stored primordial heat being slowly released?

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

it's not chemical, that much i can tell you. there was a study done in 1800 iirc where they contemplated what gives the sun its enormous power and they figured out that if the sun was a solid ball of coal burning slowly, it wouldn't last longer than 200 years iirc, at the enormous rate of power it emits. it's a nuclear process

these nuclear processes can be very long-running. uranium takes billions of years to decay. it's probable that a lot of planets have uranium in their interior and that heats up the planet from the inside.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 1 points 8 hours ago

Uranus isn't the sun though and the power output is many orders of magnitude lower

[–] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Only during a flare up.

[–] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I've often thought of my anus as the only gateway to hell

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 2 points 15 hours ago

I've had good luck with fiber + probiotic = happy bottom. (But check with your doctor.)

[–] sirico@feddit.uk 2 points 23 hours ago

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