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Ed Stone, Former Director of JPL, Voyager Project Scientist, Dies

5 min read

Known for his steady leadership, consensus building, and enthusiasm for engaging the public in science, Stone left a deep impact on the space community. Edward C. Stone, former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, and longtime project…

Article5 months ago
A series of eight images of Neptune: four on the upper half of the image and four on the lower half of the image. The planet appears as a dark-blue sphere dotted with bright white patches.

Neptune’s Disappearing Clouds Linked to the Solar Cycle

6 min read

Astronomers have uncovered a link between Neptune's shifting cloud abundance and the 11-year solar cycle, in which the waxing and waning of the Sun's entangled magnetic fields drives solar activity.

Article1 year 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 –…

Article1 year ago

New Webb Image Captures Clearest View of Neptune’s Rings in Decades

4 min read

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows off its capabilities closer to home with its first image of Neptune. Not only has Webb captured the clearest view of this distant planet’s rings in more than 30 years, but its cameras reveal…

Article2 years 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
Image of Neptune taken by Voyager 2

New Study Finds Unexpected Temperature Changes on Neptune

2 min read

The average global temperature on Neptune unexpectedly fluctuated during a recent 17-year period, according to a new study.

Article3 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…

Article3 years ago
This Hubble Space Telescope snapshot of the dynamic blue-green planet Neptune

Dark Storm on Neptune Reverses Direction, Possibly Shedding a Fragment

6 min read

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope watched a mysterious dark vortex on Neptune abruptly steer away from a likely death on the giant blue planet. The storm, which is wider than the Atlantic Ocean, was born in the planet’s northern…

Article4 years ago

Proposed NASA Mission Would Visit Neptune’s Curious Moon Triton

6 min read

When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Neptune’s strange moon Triton three decades ago, it wrote a planetary science cliffhanger. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft ever to have flown past Neptune, and it left a lot of unanswered questions.…

Article4 years ago