Flashing smoke and fire from Uranus is no laughing matter

Scientists using the W. M. Keck II Telescope in August captured some pretty amazing pictures of eight massive bright spots on Uranus. Appearing to be massive firestorms, the bright spots are actually the wavelength of storms in the Uranus atmosphere. Scientists believe the flashes of light are caused by methane gas rising into the atmosphere, freezing into crystals, and then reflecting sunlight away from the planet. The strength of the storms are highly unusual – the intensity of which are normally only seen once every four decades during Uranus’s 42-year equinox (which peaked last in 2007).

Flashing smoke and fire from Uranus is no laughing matter