solar system

Astronomers have recently made an intriguing discovery in our solar system, uncovering two tiny moons circling Neptune and one orbiting Uranus. These newfound celestial companions bring the total count of known moons around these gas giants to 16 for Neptune and 28 for Uranus.The most remarkable of these discoveries is Uranus' new moon, believed to be the smallest ever detected around the ice giant. Measuring a mere 5 miles (8 kilometers) in width, this diminutive moon completes a single orbit around Uranus every 680…

Astronomers found a new moon orbiting Uranus, as well as two around Neptune. The tiny satellites appeared as faint specks in the outer reaches of the solar system following hours of ground-based observations.Dave Bautista Opens Up About His Relationship With Denis VilleneuveUsing observatories in Chile and Hawaii, Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution for Science, first spotted the Uranian moon on November 4, 2023 and the two previously unknown Neptunian moons in September 2021. “The three newly…

Astronomers have long wondered how Earth became water-rich—bountiful with abyssal oceans, frigid glaciers and rain that pours from the sky into lakes, rivers and wetlands. Water, which is composed of the first and third most common elements in the universe, is a deceptively simple molecule to form. Yet while the details of its delivery to rocky planets like our own may be essential for understanding life’s cosmic prevalence, they remain mostly unknown.Water is a potent medium for the assembly of complex organic molecules…

When I was a little kid I had a friend who was born on February 29, the “leap day” we add to that month every four years. I remember we used to tease him by saying that he was only three years old. I lost contact with him over the years, but I’d guess that by now he’s pretty sick of the joke.And here we are again on the cusp of our quadrennial exercise in timekeeping: leap day 2024 is almost upon us. A handful of traditions have been associated with it; one held that this was the only acceptable day for—gasp!—women to…

For the first time since 1972 a spacecraft launched from the U.S. has landed softly on the surface of the moon. And, for the first time ever, this successful extraterrestrial landing was achieved by a spacecraft built and operated by private industry rather than by a government space program.At 6:23 P.M. EST a 14.1-foot-tall lander resembling a police booth on stilts descended to the moon’s surface on a ballooning blue flame of rocket exhaust. Seconds later, the lander’s six feet crunched into the dark soil of Malapert A,…

While journeying through the far reaches of the solar system, the New Horizons probe picked up a dusty trail of icy fragments that may indicate that the Kuiper Belt—home to former planet Pluto and countless other objects—is way bigger than we thought.What Is Planet Nine and Why Can’t We Find It?New observations from the NASA mission suggest that the massive donut-shaped outer zone of the solar system, also known as the Kuiper Belt, could extend billions of miles farther than current estimates. There even might be a…

NASA scientists recently conducted a study on asteroid rocks that their spacecraft took from a distant "potentially hazardous"…

Astronomers have uncovered a celestial revelation: stars passing near our solar system have wielded a profound influence on the orbit of Earth as well as those of its its planetary companions. This cosmic dance, detailed in a study titled "Passing Stars as an Important Driver of Paleoclimate and the Solar System's Orbital Evolution" published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, challenges our understanding of Earth's history and even encompasses shifts in climate.Stellar Perturbations and Climate VariabilityNathan A.…

February 16, 20243 min readFragments from Asteroid 2024 BX1 have proven to be a rare meteorite type that helps reveal the early solar system's building blocksBy Robert Lea & SPACE.comA fragment of the Asteroid 2024 BX1 recovered in Germany is a rare class called Aubrite. Fragments of an asteroid that exploded over Germany on Jan. 21 and were recovered five days later have been confirmed to be a rare space rock type that could help shed light on Earth's origins.As Space.com initially reported on Feb. 1, scientists…

Imagine, for a moment, that you are an intrepid space explorer, jaunting through the solar system for adventure and, if there’s time, scientific exploration. After launching from Earth in your rocket ship, you eventually find yourself on the surface of formerly-known-as-a-planet Pluto, gazing upward at the stars. Earth now lies six billion kilometers sunward, faded to invisibility by the distance, and you struggle in vain to even identify the sun. It’s lost—one star among countless thousands, or so an old sci-fi trope…