14 DAY TRIAL // Taking advantage of a period of increased solar activity – in November 2011 – astronomers operating the Hubble Space Telescope took these two images of Uranus, which provide some of the most detailed views ever obtained of auroras taking place on this planet.
The fact that the intensity and brightness of polar lights is tied to the amount and energy of particles released by the Sun during solar flares is well known, which is why experts selected these moments to conduct their studies.
According to NASA, these images were collected in ultraviolet wavelengths. The reason the auroras do not appear to be located at the ice giant's north and south poles is because its magnetic field is inclined by about 59 degrees from its spin axis.
The image above also features the cyan-colored planet in optical light, as first seen by Voyager 2 in 1986, as well as the faint ring system circling the distant world, which was imaged in 2011 using the Gemini Observatory.