English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
Esperanto
French
German
Greek
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
UrduUranus, the planet second most distant from our Sun, has been described as mysterious, strange, and fairly unknown to those of us here on Earth. However, in astronomy, these terms are pretty relative. Compared to the remote, dark stretches of the early universe or oddball exoplanets dozens of light-years from our solar system, researchers actually know a lot about Uranus.
Tag: Planet
NASA’s Hubble Watches Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Behave Like a Stress Ball
Using Hubble, astronomers have discovered that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) is not as stable as it might look. Hubble measurements of the GRS’s size, shape, brightness, color, and vorticity showed it can change dimensions—looking like a slightly skinnier or fatter red oval over 90 days.
Potential new worlds rescued by citizens of Earth! Early results of people-powered astronomy project ‘out of this world’
Eagle-eyed, armchair astronomers have almost certainly made a number of thrilling discoveries, including two possible Jupiter-sized ‘exoplanets’ – planets outside our solar system – in an international, citizen-science project run out of a UK university.
Three years later, search for life on Mars continues
In the three years since NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars, the NASA science team has made the daily task of investigating the red planet seem almost mundane.
New giant planet evidence of possible planetary collisions
A Neptune-sized planet denser than steel has been discovered by an international team of astronomers, who believe its composition could be the result of a giant planetary clash.
Neptune’s Disappearing Clouds Linked to the Solar Cycle
Astronomers have uncovered a link between Neptune’s shifting cloud abundance and the Sun’s 11-year solar cycle that increases the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the planet. This discovery is based on three decades of observations by Hubble.
Pioneering research sheds new light on the origins and composition of planet Mars
A new study has uncovered intriguing insights into the liquid core at the centre of Mars, furthering understanding of the planet’s formation and evolution.
GW Expert Available to Discuss Youth Climate Activism During Earth Week
This week, people across the globe are organizing events around sustainability, green living and climate change to mark the annual celebration of Earth Day. Often leading the charge is young people, who one faculty expert at the George Washington University…
Mars model provides method for landing humans on Red Planet
A mathematical model developed by space medicine experts from The Australian National University (ANU) could be used to predict whether an astronaut can safely travel to Mars and fulfil their mission duties upon stepping foot on the Red Planet.
The life puzzle: the location of land on a planet can affect its habitability
New climate models have found that the amount and location of land on a planet’s surface can significantly impact its habitability. Astronomers have identified substantial differences in surface temperature, sea ice and water vapour across a planet’s surface for different land configurations.
Undead planets: The unusual conditions of the first exoplanet detection
The first ever exoplanets were discovered 30 years ago around a rapidly rotating star, called a pulsar. Now, astronomers have revealed that these planets may be incredibly rare.
NRAO Contest Winners Illustrate Diverse Cosmic Phenomena
Winners in NRAO’s VLA 40th Anniversary Image Contest are from around the world, and their works illustrate a fascinating variety of celestial objects. Entries combined observational data from the VLA with data from optical, infrared, and X-ray telescopes, and from computer simulations.
ALMA Discovers Misaligned Rings in Planet-Forming Disk Around Triple Stars
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), two teams of astronomers have for the first time discovered a planet-forming disk with misaligned rings around a triple star system, called GW Orionis. The astronomers give two possible scenarios for the misalignment: either…
ALMA Captures Stirred-Up Planet Factory
Planet-forming environments can be much more complex and chaotic than previously expected. This is evidenced by a new image of the star RU Lup, made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). All planets, including the ones in our Solar System,…
Hubble Sees Summertime on Saturn
Hubble photographed Saturn and its rings on July 4, during summer in Saturn’s northern hemisphere. This image is taken as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project. OPAL is helping scientists understand the atmospheric dynamics and evolution of our solar system’s gas giant planets.
The Strange Orbits of ‘Tatooine’ Planetary Disks
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found striking orbital geometries in protoplanetary disks around binary stars. While disks orbiting the most compact binary star systems share very nearly the same plane, disks encircling wide binaries have orbital planes that are severely tilted. These systems can teach us about planet formation in complex environments.
How Newborn Stars Prepare for the Birth of Planets
An international team of astronomers used two of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world to create more than three hundred images of planet-forming disks around very young stars in the Orion Clouds. These images reveal new details about the birthplaces of planets and the earliest stages of star formation.