If you suffer from seasonal affective disorder during the dark winter months, then stay away from the poles of Uranus. The giant planet is tilted on its side. So during each 84-year-long orbit around the Sun, the polar regions have 42 years of daylight followed by 42 years of darkness – a looong time to feel sad.

Planetary scientists have been watching the slow change of seasons for two decades with Hubble Space Telescope. At visible wavelengths, Uranus looks like an almost-featureless ball – faint bands of clouds are about the only details. A smattering of methane in the atmosphere absorbs red light, giving the planet a pale green color.

But Hubble’s instruments split the light into its individual wavelengths. It also can see into the infrared, which isn’t visible to the eye. That reveals more details, providing a better picture of what’s going on.

Among other things, it’s revealed that there’s not much methane at the poles, regardless of the season. On the other hand, as the north pole warmed up during spring, it got hazier. At the same time, the haze thinned out over the south pole. Scientists are studying those results to learn more about the planet’s atmosphere and the slow march of its seasons.

Uranus is low in the east in early evening, to the lower right of the Pleiades star cluster. Through binoculars, it looks like a star with just a hint of color.

Script by Damond Benningfield