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The drops are pasty and filled with gas.
The mystery of Uranus
Researchers believe that the soft spots on Uranus hide a lot of gas.
Specifically, scientists have discovered that “dumplings,” large muddy hailstones made of ammonia and water, could be the cause of a strange atmospheric phenomenon on Uranus, according to a Press release on research. The dough balls, which are also present on Neptune, could carry ammonia into the atmosphere of both planets and hide the gas on detection.
Carbonated balls
The balls might actually be the secret why scientists can’t detect ammonia in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune – which is odd since it’s abundant with other gases like methane.
However, observations from Jupiter have shown that mushroom balls can often carry ammonia deep into its atmosphere and conceal it from detection by clouds.
“The Juno spacecraft has shown that in Jupiter ammonia is present in abundance, but usually much deeper than expected – thanks to the formation of dough balls,” said planetologist Trisan Guillot. He presented a study of his team’s mushball research at the 2021 Europlanet Science Congress.
“I show that what we learned from Jupiter can be applied to provide a plausible solution to this mystery for Uranus and Neptune,” he added.
READ MORE: Mushroom balls hide ammonia missing from Uranus and Neptune [Phys.org]
More on Uranus: Scientists find X-rays coming out of Uranus
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