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NASA’s Webb Rings in Holidays With Ringed Planet Uranus

4 min read

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently trained its sights on unusual and enigmatic Uranus, an ice giant that spins on its side. Webb captured this dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, and other atmospheric features – including a seasonal polar…

Article5 months ago

All Eyes on the Ice Giants

3 min read

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft plans to observe Uranus and Neptune from its location far out in the outer solar system this fall, and the mission team is inviting the global amateur astronomy community to come along for the ride –…

Article9 months ago

NASA Scientists Make First Observation of a Polar Cyclone on Uranus

3 min read

Scientists used ground-based telescopes to get unprecedented views, thanks to the giant planet’s position in its long orbit around the Sun. For the first time, NASA scientists have strong evidence of a polar cyclone on Uranus. By examining radio waves…

Article12 months ago

New Study of Uranus’ Large Moons Shows 4 May Hold Water

5 min read

The work is based on new modeling and explores how oceans could exist in unlikely places in our solar system.

Article1 year ago

NASA’s Webb Scores Another Ringed World With New Image of Uranus

4 min read

Following in the footsteps of the Neptune image released in 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken a stunning image of the solar system’s other ice giant, the planet Uranus. The new image features dramatic rings as well as…

Article1 year ago
Lower half of Jupiter. Cloud bands of rusty-orange, dull yellow, white, and brown. Swirling ovals and turbulent waves of clouds bound by the bands. Yellow-orange moon, Io, just right of center. It casts its shadow toward the planet's left limb.

Hubble Monitors Changing Weather and Seasons at Jupiter and Uranus

5 min read

Ever since its launch in 1990, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been an interplanetary weather observer, keeping an eye on the largely gaseous outer planets and their ever-changing atmospheres. NASA spacecraft missions to the outer planets have given us a…

Article1 year ago

Gravity Assist: It’s Raining Diamonds on These Planets

0 min read

Follow via Apple Podcasts Follow via SoundCloud Follow via RSS Feed Left: Arriving at Uranus in 1986, Voyager 2 observed a bluish orb with subtle features. A haze layer hid most of the planet’s cloud features from view. Right: This image of…

Article2 years ago
Diagram showing haze layers on Uranus and Neptune.

Why Uranus and Neptune Are Different Colors

8 min read

Neptune and Uranus have much in common yet their appearances are notably different. Astronomers now have an explanation for why the two planets are different colors.

Article2 years ago
Hubble image left to right: Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune

Hubble’s Grand Tour of the Outer Solar System

6 min read

From its vantage point high above Earth’s atmosphere, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has completed this year’s grand tour of the outer solar system – returning crisp images that complement current and past observations from interplanetary spacecraft. This is the realm…

Article2 years ago

Revisiting Decades-Old Voyager 2 Data, Scientists Find One More Secret

6 min read

Eight and a half years into its grand tour of the solar system, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was ready for another encounter. It was Jan. 24, 1986, and soon it would meet the mysterious seventh planet, icy-cold Uranus. Over the next…

Article4 years ago