The surface of the seventh planet from the sun is normally pretty calm — which is why amateur and professional astronomers alike were thrilled to see storms brewing on Uranus' face earlier this year. A team at the University of California, Berkeley, noticed eight large storms on the planet on August 5 and 6, one of which was the brightest storm ever seen on Uranus.
"The weather on Uranus is incredibly active," said astronomer and UC Berkeley professor Imke de Pater in a statement released by the university Wednesday. Co-investigator Heidi Hammel, from the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, said "why we see these incredible storms now is beyond anybody's guess."
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