OUTERPLANETS

845 articles

Methane gas revealed on dwarf planet Makemake by JWST observations
Sep 11, 2025 (SPX)
"Makemake is one of the largest and brightest icy worlds beyond Neptune, and its surface is dominated by frozen methane," said SwRI's Dr. Silvia Protopapa, lead...
Jupiter birth dated through ancient molten rock droplets in meteorites
Aug 25, 2025 (SPX)
When the planetesimals collided, their water instantly vaporized, generating explosive steam bursts that fragmented molten rock into droplets. These droplets so...
Jupiter core mystery not explained by giant planetary impact
Aug 22, 2025 (SPX)
Jupiter's core does not have a sharp boundary but gradually merges into its hydrogen-rich layers. This dilute core was first revealed by NASA's Juno spacecraft,...
New Horizons begins record hibernation in Kuiper Belt
Aug 22, 2025 (SPX)
This marks the start of the longest hibernation in the spacecraft's history, expected to last until late June 2026, pending budget approval. The period will sur...
Fresh twist to mystery of Jupiter's core
Aug 22, 2025 (SPX)
It had been thought that a colossal collision with an early planet containing half of Jupiter's core material could have mixed up the central region of the gas ...
Alien aurora: Researchers discover new plasma wave in Jupiter's aurora
Aug 22, 2025 (SPX)
The research is published in Physical Review Letters, a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, high-impact scientific journal. The observation is based on data from ...
Webb telescope discovers a new Uranus moon
Aug 19, 2025 (UPI)
The discovery was made on Feb. 2, but NASA officials did not announce the discovery until Tuesday in a news release. "This object was spotted in a series of 10 ...
Simulated ice volcanoes reveal how water behaves on distant moons
Jul 30, 2025 (SPX)
On Earth, water freezes below 0C and boils above 100C. In deep space, however, it can boil and freeze at the same time. This dual process plays a key role in cr...
China eyes Neptune for groundbreaking ice giant mission
Jul 25, 2025 (SPX)
These remote, largely unexplored planets contain clues to the solar system's origins, according to Yang Mengfei, chief designer of the Chang'e 5 mission and sen...
JunoCam revived by onboard heat treatment just in time for Io flyby
Jul 24, 2025 (SPX)
JunoCam, a visible-light color camera designed primarily for public engagement, has also contributed key scientific data throughout Juno's mission. Positioned o...
Rare Trans Neptunian Object Reveals Unexpected Orbital Dance with Neptune
Jul 22, 2025 (SPX)
The trans-Neptunian object (TNO) was discovered through the Large inclination Distant Objects (LiDO) survey, which uses the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope for p...
Fossil object 2023 KQ14 challenges Planet Nine theory with unique distant orbit
Jul 22, 2025 (SPX)
FOSSIL (Formation of the Outer Solar System: An Icy Legacy) leverages the wide-field capabilities of Subaru Telescope to explore distant solar system bodies. Su...
UH Researchers Help Solve Uranus Heat Mystery
Jul 22, 2025 (SPX)
The discovery resolves a long-standing scientific mystery about the giant planet, because observational analyses from Voyager 2 in 1986 didn't suggest the prese...
Unexpected Dust Patterns Found on Uranus Moons Confound Scientists
Jun 12, 2025 (SPX)
The team had hypothesized that charged particles from Uranus' magnetosphere would darken the trailing hemispheres of its four major moons-Ariel, Umbriel, Titani...
SwRI study shows Europa's icy surface constantly reshaping
Jun 02, 2025 (SPX)
Europa's surface ice varies in crystallinity depending on location, indicating complex processes at play. While Earth's water ice typically forms a hexagonal cr...
The hunt for mysterious 'Planet Nine' offers up a surprise
May 29, 2025 (AFP)
Some astronomers say the strange, clustered orbits of icy rocks beyond Neptune indicate that something big is out there, which they have dubbed Planet Nine. Now...
Jupiter Was Formerly Twice Its Current Size and Had a Much Stronger Magnetic Field
May 22, 2025 (JPL)
In a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, Konstantin Batygin (PhD '12), professor of planetary science at Caltech; and Fred C. Adams, professor ...
SwRI Gathers First Ultraviolet Data from NASA's Europa Clipper Mission
May 19, 2025 (SPX)
Europa-UVS is one of nine scientific instruments aboard the Europa Clipper, including another SwRI-led instrument, the MAss Spectrometer for Planetary EXplorati...
Webb Uncovers New Mysteries in Jupiter's Aurora
May 13, 2025 (SPX)
Jupiter's auroras form when high-energy particles enter the planet's atmosphere near its magnetic poles and collide with gas atoms. Unlike Earth's auroras, whic...
Juno reveals subsurface secrets of Jupiter and Io
May 02, 2025 (SPX)
Using its Microwave Radiometer (MWR) and Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM), Juno captured data that supports a new model for the fast-moving jet stream enc...
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