The planet Uranus and its five largest moons may not be the barren dead worlds scientists have long thought.

Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say.

Much of what we know about them was gathered by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, which visited it nearly 40 years ago.

But a new analysis shows that Voyager’s visit coincided with a powerful solar storm, leading to a misleading idea of ​​what the Uranian system is really like.

Uranus is a beautiful, icy ringed world in the outer reaches of our solar system. It is among the coldest of all the planets. It’s also tilted on its side compared to all the other worlds – like it’s been turned upside down – making it probably the weirdest.

We first saw it in 1986, when Voyager 2 flew by and sent back sensational images of the planet and its five major moons.

But what amazed scientists even more was the data sent back by Voyager 2, indicating that the Uranian system was even stranger than they thought.

Measurements from the spacecraft’s instruments indicated that the planets and moons were inactive, unlike the other moons in the outer solar system. They also showed that Uranus’ protective magnetic field was strangely distorted. It was crushed and pushed away from the Sun.

A planet’s magnetic field traps any gases and other material that escape from the planet and its moons. These could come from oceans or geological activity. Voyager 2 found none, suggesting that Uranus and its five largest moons were barren and inactive.

This was a huge surprise because it was different from the other planets of the solar system and their moons.

But the new analysis solved the decades-old mystery. It shows that Voyager 2 has had a bad day.

The new research shows that just as Voyager 2 flew by Uranus, the Sun was raging, creating a strong solar wind that could have blown material away and temporarily distorted the magnetic field.

So for 40 years, we’ve had an incorrect view of what Uranus and its five largest moons are normally like, according to Dr. William Dunn of University College London.

“These results suggest that the Uranian system may be much more interesting than previously thought. There could be moons out there that could have the conditions necessary for life, they could have oceans below the surface that could be full of fish!”

Linda Spilker was a young scientist working on the Voyager program when the Uranus data came through. She still serves as a scientist for the Voyager missions. She said she was excited to hear about the new results, which they were published in the Nature Astronomy Journal.

“The results are fascinating and I’m really excited to see that there is potential for life in the Uranian system,” she told BBC News.

“I’m also so excited that so much is being done with the Voyager data. It’s amazing that scientists are looking back at the data we collected in 1986 and finding new results and new discoveries.”

Dr. Affelia Wibisono of the Institute for Advanced Study in Dublin, who is independent of the research team, described the results as “very exciting”.

“It shows how important it is to look back at old data, because sometimes hiding behind it is something new to discover that can help us design the next generation of space exploration missions.”

Which is what NASA is doing, partly as a result of new research.

It’s been nearly 40 years since Voyager 2 last flew past the icy world and its moons. NASA plans to launch a new mission, the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, to return for a closer look in 10 years.

According to NASA’s Dr. Jamie Jasinski, whose idea it was to reexamine the Voyager 2 data, the mission will need to take its results into account when designing its instruments and planning its science investigation.

“Some of the instruments for the future spacecraft are largely designed with ideas from what we learned from Voyager 2 when it flew by the system when it experienced an anomalous event. So we need to rethink exactly how we’re going to design the instruments for the new mission so that we can best capture the science we need to make discoveries.”

NASA’s Uranus probe isn’t expected to arrive until 2045, when scientists hope to learn whether these distant icy moons, once thought to be dead worlds, could possibly be home to life.