Free Republic

NASA reveals a breathtaking photo of Earth and Moon taken from deep space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel From nearly 290 million kilometers away, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft turned its gaze homeward and captured an arresting glimpse of Earth and the Moon, now just distant specks of light nestled among the stars of the Aries constellation. According to NASA, this deep-space photo opportunity came as part of a scheduled instrument calibration while the spacecraft continues its cruise toward the asteroid Psyche. Testing Cameras With Familiar Cosmic Landmarks The image, taken on July 20 and 23, was created...

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper as it flies by Mars, using the planet’s gravitational force to alter the spacecraft’s path on its way to the Jupiter system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech ================================================================ During a close Mars flyby, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft tested its radar system, REASON, for the first time in space. The radar’s flawless performance thrilled scientists, as it successfully bounced signals off the Martian surface—proving it’s ready to scan Europa’s ice shell for signs of a hidden ocean. The 60GB of data gathered not only confirmed the hardware’s reliability but also gave researchers an early opportunity to fine-tune...

KEY POINTS Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune each emit more energy than they receive from the Sun, meaning they have comparatively warm interiors. NASA’s Uranus flyby with Voyager 2 in 1986 found the planet colder than expected, which challenged ideas of how planets formed and evolved. However, with advanced computer modeling and a new look at old data, scientists think the planet may actually be warmer than previously expected. ==================================================================== For millennia, astronomers thought Uranus was no more than a distant star. It wasn’t until the late 18th century that Uranus was universally accepted as a planet. To this day, the...

Astronomers at the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) are appealing for help, after an image taken by NASA's Mario Rana appears to show an object slamming into Saturn.Saturn, like Jupiter, is a gas giant. With their impressive masses, you would expect these giants to attract their share of asteroid impacts. Unlike terrestrial planets, which are usually left with an obvious crater after impact, on gas giants, it is not entirely obvious. With outer layers primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, any trace of an impact can disappear.Astronomers have attempted to model how many impacts take place on the gas...

A mini planetary parade will see Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Neptune and Saturn align above the horizon Astronomy enthusiasts are in for a celestial treat at dawn tomorrow, as a stunning mini planetary parade is set to grace our skies. The early hours of the morning will witness Jupiter, Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Neptune and Saturn aligning just above the horizon. The prospects of catching Uranus with the naked eye might be slim, but it's anticipated that avid sky-gazers across Britain could capture glances of other planets, with some spotted even without the need for binoculars. Shedding light on this space...

All four of the sun’s giant planets emit more energy than they receive from the sun. Like the sun’s other giant worlds, Uranus (seen in this 1986 photo from the Voyager 2 spacecraft) radiates more energy than the sun gives it, though not nearly as strongly as its massive peers do. JPL/NASA ===================================================================== Uranus emits more energy than it gets from the sun, two new studies report — a discovery that contradicts findings from the venerable Voyager spacecraft. When Voyager 2 sped past Uranus on January 24, 1986, the spacecraft detected no significant excess heat from the planet, making it...

The race between Jupiter and Saturn for the most moons in the Solar System may have just finally come screeching to a halt. A team of scientists has found a whopping 128 previously unknown moons hanging around Saturn, in a discovery officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union. This brings the planet's total number of known moons to 274, leaving Jupiter, with its mere 95 moons, in the dust. The first hint that there were more moons awaiting discovery came between 2019 and 2021, when 62 such objects were identified. Other small objects were also spotted at the time that...

Research led by Burkhard Militzer, University of California Berkeley This false color photograph of Neptune was made from Voyager 2 images taken through three filters: blue, green, and a filter that passes light at a wavelength that is absorbed by methane gas. (Credit: NASA/JPL) In a nutshell Uranus and Neptune have weird, disorganized magnetic fields because their interiors naturally separate into two distinct layers—a flowing water-rich upper layer and a stable hydrocarbon-rich lower layer. Using advanced simulations of 540 atoms under extreme pressure and temperature, Berkeley physicist Burkhard Militzer discovered that planetary ices (water, methane, and ammonia) spontaneously separate rather...

The best chance to see as many planets as possible will be just after sunset on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Four of the planets - Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Mars - will be visible to the naked eye. Saturn will be harder to see because it will be low in the horizon. You will need a telescope to spot the other two planets - Uranus and Neptune. A good view of the horizon and clear skies will offer the best chance of spotting them all. However, the window to see all seven planets will be very brief. Dr Edward...

Explanation: Saturn looks slightly different in infrared light. Bands of clouds show great structure, including long stretching storms. Also quite striking in infrared is the unusual hexagonal cloud pattern surrounding Saturn's North Pole. Each side of the dark hexagon spans roughly the width of our Earth. The hexagon's existence was not predicted, and its origin and likely stability remain a topics of research. Saturn's famous rings circle the planet and cast shadows below the equator. The featured image was taken by the robotic Cassini spacecraft in 2014 in several infrared colors. In 2017 September, the Cassini mission was brought to...

Colorized microscopic image of sodium carbonate deposit on Ryugu sample. Credit: KyotoU/Toru Matsumoto ============================================================================== Deposits Found on a Nearby Asteroid Point to Salty Water in the Outer Solar System Scientists have uncovered salt minerals in samples from asteroid Ryugu, pointing to a past with liquid water. The presence of these salts suggests that Ryugu’s parent body once hosted a warm, saline environment before the water vanished. This discovery could help us understand the role of water in shaping planets and moons across the Solar System. Ryugu’s Salty Secret: What Scientists Found Asteroids that pass near Earth often spark concern about...

New measurements of Neptune's atmosphere by a European space telescope suggest that a comet may have crashed into the gas giant about 200 years ago.Scientists analyzed the composition of Neptune's atmosphere using data from the Herschel space observatory. They found a peculiar distribution of carbon monoxide in the gas giant's atmosphere, which could be an indication of an earlier comet impact...Other similar collisions between comets (or asteroids) and planets helped the astronomers detect the telltale signs of cometary impacts.When pieces of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter in 1994, scientists were able to examine the trajectory and debris to...

Most people consider Saturn's awe-inspiring system of rings that encircle the gas giant to be the most fascinating and iconic celestial feature in our solar system..... A fast-approaching and significant cosmic event will soon dramatically alter our view of this magnificent planet. Come March 2025, Saturn's majestic rings will become virtually invisible to earth-based observers. This phenomenon occurs due to the unique tilt of Saturn's axis, which will position the rings edge-on to our line of sight.... Thankfully, this isn't a permanent change...

Explanation: Do underground oceans vent through canyons on Saturn's moon Enceladus? Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. The unusual surface features dubbed tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon...

Explanation: Why would clouds form a hexagon on Saturn? Nobody is sure. Originally discovered during the Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it anywhere else in the Solar System. Acquiring its first sunlit views of far northern Saturn in late 2012, the Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera recorded this stunning, false-color image of the ringed planet's north pole. The composite of near-infrared image data results in red hues for low clouds and green for high ones, giving the Saturnian cloudscape a vivid appearance. This and similar images show the stability of the hexagon even...

Sorry, Jupiter. Astronomers have discovered 62 new moons orbiting the ringed planet Saturn. The satellite haul brings the planet's total number of moons to over 100 and also means the gas giant takes back the crown as the solar system's "moon king" from Jupiter. Prior to this discovery, Saturn had 83 moons recognized by the International Astronomical Union(opens in new tab), so the new batch brings the total number to an incredible 145. The discovery marks another milestone for Saturn, with the planet becoming the first world in the cosmos known to be orbited by more than 100 moons. The...

Archaeologists with the University of Tübingen, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, uncovered ancient Egyptian murals depicting the zodiac signs beneath 2,000 years of grime and soot in the Temple of Esna. The archaeologists have been working to restore the temple, which lies on the West Bank of the Nile, near the city of Luxor, which was once known as Thebes. “The zodiac was used to decorate private tombs and sarcophagi and was of great importance in astrological texts, such as horoscopes found inscribed on pottery sherds,” Dr. Daniel von Recklinghausen, a Tübingen researcher, said in...

Saturn's rings are heating its atmosphere, according to a new study. Scientists announced the finding on March 30, which they say has never been seen before in our solar system. A NASA spokesperson said: "The secret has been hiding in plain view for 40 years. But it took the insight of a veteran astronomer to pull it all together within a year, using observations of Saturn from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and retired Cassini probe, in addition to the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft and the retired International Ultraviolet Explorer mission. "The discovery: Saturn's vast ring system is heating the...

Egypt's first complete Zodiac was uncovered on the ceiling of the Temple of Esna in Luxor governorate during restoration work carried out by an Egyptian-German expedition...After five years of cleaning and restoration work, the joint Egyptian-German mission uncovered a bright and colourful astronomical representation of the ancient Egyptian night sky.The relief contains all the twelve Zodiac signs, the outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, as well as depictions of the so-called seven arrows and constellations used by the ancient Egyptians in time measurement....these findings were not recorded by the temple's previous publication by late French Egyptologist Serge Sauneron, who...

During the past couple of weeks, skywatchers around the world have been observing the western evening sky soon after sundown, as four naked-eye planets -- Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter - have stretched out in a long line. The line has slowly contracted each night, as the four planets draw closer to each other.Even the Moon got involved, closely passing each of the four planets over a span of five nights in mid-April. Now through the first days of May will likely be the best time to see yet a fifth planet: Mercury. Mercury has actually been visible for the...