OUTERPLANETS

845 articles

Helicopter test for Jupiter icy moons radar
Oct 03, 2017 (ESA)
JUICE will study Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere and vast magnetic fields, as well as the planet-sized moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. All three moons are t...
Solving the Mystery of Pluto's Giant Blades of Ice
Sep 27, 2017 (SPX)
Now, scientists have turned up a fascinating explanation for this "bladed terrain": the structures are made almost entirely of methane ice, and likely formed as...
Global Aerospace Corporation to present Pluto lander concept to NASA
Sep 21, 2017 (SPX)
Once at the surface, the vehicle can switch to "hopper" mode, taking advantage of the low gravitational acceleration and a modest propellant store to hop around...
Hibernation Over, New Horizons Continues Kuiper Belt Cruise
Sep 14, 2017 (SPX)
Over the next three days, the mission ops team will bring the spacecraft into "active" mode, preparing it for a series of science-instrument checkouts and data-...
Pluto features given first official names
Sep 11, 2017 (SPX)
This is the first set of official names of surface features on Pluto to be approved by the IAU, the internationally recognised authority for naming celestial bo...
Jupiter's Auroras Present a Powerful Mystery
Sep 07, 2017 (JPL)
Examining data collected by the ultraviolet spectrograph and energetic-particle detector instruments aboard the Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft, a team led by ...
New Horizons Files Flight Plan for 2019 Flyby
Sep 06, 2017 (SPX)
That milestone will mark the farthest planetary encounter in history - some one billion miles (1.5 billion kilometers) beyond Pluto and more than four billion m...
To Pluto and beyond
Sep 04, 2017 (SPX)
Pluto is the farthest planet (some prefer dwarf planet) from the sun in our solar system. After NASA's Voyager 2 probe sent back the first detailed images of Ne...
Juno Scientists Prepare for Seventh Science Pass of Jupiter
Sep 04, 2017 (SPX)
Juno launched on Aug. 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. During its mission of exploration, Juno soars ...
Scientists probe Neptune's depths to reveal secrets of icy planets
Aug 14, 2017 (SPX)
A new study sheds light on the chemical make-up of the planet, which lies around 4.5 billion kilometres from the sun. Extremely low temperatures on planets like...
Scientists predict chemicals hiding beneath Neptune's icy surface
Aug 11, 2017 (UPI)
Often, scientists attempt to replicate planetary conditions in the lab, but Neptune is home to extreme pressures and temperatures, making such a method difficul...
Twilight observations reveal huge storm on Neptune
Aug 04, 2017 (SPX)
"Seeing a storm this bright at such a low latitude is extremely surprising," said Molter, who spotted the storm complex near Neptune's equator during a dawn tes...
Jovian storm looms large in the Jupiter's High North
Aug 04, 2017 (SPX)
It is the third largest anticyclonic oval on the planet, typically around 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) long. The color varies between red and off-white (as it...
NASA's New Horizons Team Strikes Gold in Argentina
Jul 20, 2017 (SPX)
In a matter of seconds, NASA's New Horizons team captured new data on its elusive target, an ancient Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69. Weary but excited te...
New Horizons Video Soars over Pluto's Majestic Mountains and Icy Plains
Jul 17, 2017 (SPX)
Wonder no more. Using actual New Horizons data and digital elevation models of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, mission scientists have created flyover movies...
New evidence in support of the Planet Nine hypothesis
Jul 13, 2017 (SPX)
Now Spanish astronomers have used a novel technique to analyse the orbits of the so-called extreme trans-Neptunian objects and, once again, they point out that ...
Juno spots Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Jul 13, 2017 (JPL)
"For hundreds of years scientists have been observing, wondering and theorizing about Jupiter's Great Red Spot," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator ...
Juno Completes Flyby over Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Jul 12, 2017 (JPL)
Raw images from the spacecraft's latest flyby will be posted in coming days. "For generations people from all over the world and all walks of life have marveled...
NASA spacecraft to fly over Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Jul 10, 2017 (AFP)
The flyby of the Juno spacecraft, surveilling the 10,000-mile-wide (16,000-kilometer-wide) storm, is scheduled for 9:55 pm Monday (0155 GMT Tuesday). "Jupiter's...
New Mysteries Surround New Horizons' Next Flyby Target
Jul 07, 2017 (SPX)
More than 50 mission team members and collaborators set up telescopes across South Africa and Argentina, along a predicted track of the narrow shadow of MU69 th...
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