ScienceDaily: Neptune News

Weather on the outer planets only goes so deep

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:56:56 EDT

What is the long-range weather forecast for the giant planets Uranus and Neptune? These planets are home to extreme winds blowing at speeds of over 1000 km/hour, hurricane-like storms as large around as Earth, immense weather systems that last for years and fast-flowing jet streams. Researchers set an upper limit for the thickness of jet streams on Uranus and Neptune.

At least one in six stars has an Earth-sized planet, analysis finds

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:22:22 EST

The quest for a twin Earth is heating up. Using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, astronomers are beginning to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17 percent of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury. Since the Milky Way has about 100 billion stars, there are at least 17 billion Earth-sized worlds out there.

Do missing Jupiters mean massive comet belts?

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:12:12 EST

Astronomers have discovered vast comet belts surrounding two nearby planetary systems known to host only Earth-to-Neptune-mass worlds. The comet reservoirs could have delivered life-giving oceans to the innermost planets.

Keck observations reveal complex face of Uranus

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:36:36 EDT

The planet Uranus, known since Voyager's 1986 flyby as a bland, featureless blue-green orb, is beginning to show its face. By using a new technique with the telescopes of the Keck Observatory, astronomers have created the most richly detailed, highest-resolution images ever taken of the giant ice planet in the near infrared, revealing an incredible array of atmospheric detail and more complex weather.

Voyager at 35: Break on through to the other side

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 20:20:20 EDT

Thirty-five years ago Aug. 20, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, the first Voyager spacecraft to launch, departed on a journey that would make it the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune and the longest-operating NASA spacecraft ever. Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, that launched 16 days later on Sept. 5, 1977, are still going strong, hurtling away from our sun. Mission managers are eagerly anticipating the day when they break on through to the other side -- the space between stars.

Unseen planet revealed by its gravity

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:19:19 EDT

More than a 150 years ago, before Neptune was ever sighted in the night sky, French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier predicted the planet's existence based on small deviations in the motion of Uranus. Scientists have now inferred another unseen planet, this time orbiting a distant star, marking the first success of this technique outside the solar system.

NASA's Spitzer sees the light of alien 'super-Earth'

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:44:44 EDT

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

Looking for Earths by looking for Jupiters

Mon, 07 May 2012 16:55:55 EDT

In the search for Earth-like planets, it is helpful to look for clues and patterns that can help scientist narrow down the types of systems where potentially habitable planets are likely to be discovered. New research narrows down the search for Earth-like planets near Jupiter-like planets. Their work indicates that the early post-formation movements of hot-Jupiter planets probably disrupt the formation of Earth-like planets.

As Voyager 1 nears edge of solar system, scientists look back

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:47:47 EST

In 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president, Elvis died, Virginia park ranger Roy Sullivan was hit by lightning a record seventh time and two NASA space probes destined to turn planetary science on its head launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The identical spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched in the summer and programmed to pass by Jupiter and Saturn on different paths. Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune, completing the "Grand Tour of the Solar System," perhaps the most exciting interplanetary mission ever flown. Scientists who designed and built identical instruments for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were as stunned as anyone when the spacecraft began sending back data to Earth.

Giant planet ejected from the solar system?

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:21:21 EST

Just as an expert chess player sacrifices a piece to protect the queen, the solar system may have given up a giant planet and spared the Earth, according to a new article.

Series of bumps sent Uranus into its sideways spin, new research suggests

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:42:42 EDT

Uranus' highly tilted axis makes it something of an oddball in our solar system. The accepted wisdom is that Uranus was knocked on its side by a single large impact, but new research rewrites our theories of how Uranus became so tilted and also solves fresh mysteries about the position and orbits of its moons.

'Invisible' world discovered: Planet alternately runs late and early in its orbit, tugged by second hidden world

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:51:51 EDT

Usually, running five minutes late is a bad thing since you might lose your dinner reservation or miss out on tickets to the latest show. But when a planet runs five minutes late, astronomers get excited because it suggests that another world is nearby. NASA's Kepler spacecraft has spotted a planet that alternately runs late and early in its orbit because a second, "invisible" world is tugging on it.

New planets feature young star and twin Neptunes

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:24:24 EDT

Scientists have discovered 10 new planets. Amongst them is one orbiting a star perhaps only a few tens of million years old, twin Neptune-sized planets, and a rare Saturn-like world.

Hubble's Neptune anniversary pictures

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:45:45 EDT

Today, Neptune has arrived at the same location in space where it was discovered nearly 165 years ago. To commemorate the event, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken these "anniversary pictures" of the blue-green giant planet.

Clocking Neptune's spin by tracking atmospheric features

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 09:18:18 EDT

By tracking atmospheric features on Neptune, a planetary scientist has accurately determined the planet's rotation, a feat that had not been previously achieved for any of the gas planets in our solar system except Jupiter.

When Jupiter was in the position of Mars

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 08:02:02 EDT

A new scenario describing a key step in the formation of the solar system has been proposed by a French-American collaboration. According to this model, Jupiter migrated towards the Sun to the position where Mars is today before beginning its outward migration to its current location, much further away. This is how the researchers explain the formation of the asteroid belt as well as the size difference between the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars). The scientists are now seeking to include in this scenario Uranus and Neptune, which are the most distant planets in the solar system.

Spitzer detects shadow of 'super-Earth' in front of nearby star

Wed, 04 May 2011 11:10:10 EDT

NASA's Spitzer satellite has detected the crossing of a solid planet in front of a star located at only 42 light-years in the constellation Cancer. Thanks to this detection, astronomers know that this "super-Earth" measures 2.1 times the size of our Earth. This is the smallest exoplanet detected in the neighborhood of our Sun.

Voyager probes set to enter interstellar space

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:08:08 EDT

More than 30 years after they left Earth, NASA's twin Voyager probes are now at the edge of the solar system. Not only that, they're still working. And with each passing day they are beaming back a message that, to scientists, is both unsettling and thrilling.

Study of volcanoes in the outer solar system produces unexpected bonus for nanotechnology

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:10:10 EST

Mysterious expanding ice crystals in the moons of Saturn and Neptune may be of interest to future developers of microelectronics. Neutron scattering has discovered that methanol crystals that may be found in outer solar system ‘ice lavas’ have unusual expansion properties. The unexpected finding by a planetary geologist will interest developers of ‘nano-switches’ – single atom thick valves used in ‘micro-electronics’ at the nano scale.

Neptune could not have knocked planetoids in Cold Classical Kuiper Belt to edge of solar system

Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:41:41 EDT

New research is challenging popular theory about how part of our solar system formed. Contrary to popular belief, new evidence suggests the planet Neptune can't have knocked a collection of planetoids known as the Cold Classical Kuiper Belt to its current location at the edge of the solar system.

Dust models paint alien's view of the solar system

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 11:15:15 EDT

New supercomputer simulations tracking the interactions of thousands of dust grains show what the solar system might look like to alien astronomers searching for planets. The models also provide a glimpse of how this view might have changed as our planetary system matured.

Asteroid found in gravitational 'dead zone' near Neptune

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:16:16 EDT

There are places in space where the gravitational tug between a planet and the Sun balance out, allowing other smaller bodies to remain stable, called Lagrangian points. Trojan asteroids have been found in some of these stable spots near Jupiter and Neptune. Now astronomers have discovered the first Trojan asteroid in a difficult-to-detect stability region at Neptune -- the Lagrangian L5 point.

Pounding particles to create Neptune's water in the lab

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:50:50 EDT

An international group of physicists has drawn up plans to use the new Facility for Antiprotons and Ion Research in Germany to expose water molecules to heavy ion beams and generate the same level of pressure on the water molecules that they experience within the very inhospitable core of Neptune.

Cometary impact on Neptune: Herschel data point to collision about two centuries ago

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:09:09 EDT

A comet may have hit the planet Neptune about two centuries ago. This is indicated by the distribution of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of the gas giant that researchers have now studied. The scientists analyzed data taken by the research satellite Herschel, that has been orbiting the Sun in a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers since May 2009.

Engineers diagnosing Voyager 2 data system

Fri, 07 May 2010 16:05:05 EDT

Engineers have shifted NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft into a mode that transmits only spacecraft health and status data while they diagnose an unexpected change in the pattern of returning data. Preliminary engineering data received on May 1 show the spacecraft is basically healthy, and that the source of the issue is the flight data system, which is responsible for formatting the data to send back to Earth. The change in the data return pattern has prevented mission managers from decoding science data.

'This planet tastes funny,' according to Spitzer Space Telescope

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:13:13 EDT

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered something odd about a distant planet -- it lacks methane, an ingredient common to many of the planets in our solar system. The discovery brings astronomers one step closer to probing the atmospheres of distant planets the size of Earth. The methane-free planet, called GJ 436b, is about the size of Neptune, making it the smallest distant planet that any telescope has successfully "tasted," or analyzed.

Neptune's Moon Triton: Summer sky of methane and carbon monoxide

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 09:44:44 EDT

According to the first ever infrared analysis of the atmosphere of Neptune's moon Triton, summer is in full swing in its southern hemisphere. Astronomers discovered carbon monoxide and made the first ground-based detection of methane in Triton's thin atmosphere. These observations revealed that the thin atmosphere varies seasonally, thickening when warmed.

Galileo's Notebooks May Reveal Secrets Of New Planet

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:54:54 EDT

Galileo knew he had discovered a new planet in 1613, 234 years before its official discovery date, according to a new theory.

Mass-loss Leaves Close-in Exoplanets Exposed To The Core

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:05:05 EDT

Scientists have found that giant exoplanets orbiting very close to their stars could lose a quarter of their mass during their lifetime. They found that planets that orbit closer than 2% of an Astronomical Unit (AU), the distance between the Earth and the Sun, may lose their atmospheres completely, leaving just their core.

'Super-Neptune' Exoplanet Discovered

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:30:30 EST

Astronomers have discovered a planet somewhat larger and more massive than Neptune orbiting a star 120 light-years from Earth. While Neptune has a diameter 3.8 times that of Earth and a mass 17 times Earth's, the new world (named HAT-P-11b) is 4.7 times the size of Earth and has 25 Earth masses.

Wobbly Planets Could Reveal Earth-like Moons

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:23:23 EST

Moons outside our Solar System with the potential to support life have just become much easier to detect. Astronomers have found that such moons can be revealed by looking at wobbles in the velocity of the planets they orbit.

Deep Interior Of Neptune, Uranus And Earth May Contain Some Solid Ice

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:11:11 EDT

The deep interior of Neptune, Uranus and Earth may contain some solid ice.

Comets Throw Light On Solar System's Beginnings

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:38:38 EDT

A new picture of the composition of comets is emerging. The early solar system is commonly believed to have been formed from a cold outer region and a hot inner region, which did not exchange material. But the comet Wild-2 contains both iron oxides, which suggests that it was exposed to small trickles of water, and chromium oxide (a high temperature mineral). This means that material must have moved between the two regions.

Astronomers Discover Missing Link For Origin Of Comets

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:16:16 EDT

Astronomers have found an unusual object whose backward and tilted orbit around the Sun may clarify the origins of certain comets. In the first discovery of its kind, researchers from Canada, France and the United States have discovered an object that orbits around the Sun backwards, and tilted at an angle of 104 degrees -- almost perpendicular to the orbits of the planets.

Astronomers Find Unusual New Denizen Of The Solar System

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:58:58 EDT

A "minor planet" with the prosaic name 2006 SQ372 is just over two billion miles from Earth, a bit closer than the planet Neptune. But this lump of ice and rock is beginning the return leg of a 22,500-year journey that will take it to a distance of 150 billion miles, nearly 1,600 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun, according to a team of researchers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II).

Voyager Squashes View Of Solar System

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:54:54 EDT

Scientists using data from NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft have observed the bubble of solar wind surrounding the solar system is not round, but has a squashed shape, according to recent data published as part of a series of papers in this week's (July 3) Nature.

Trio Of Super-Earths: Harvest Of Low-mass Exoplanets Discovered With HARPS

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:17:17 EDT

European astronomers have announced a remarkable breakthrough in the field of extra-solar planets. Using the HARPS instrument at the ESO La Silla Observatory, they have found a triple system of super-Earths around the star HD 40307. Moreover, looking at their entire sample studied with HARPS, the astronomers count a total of 45 candidate planets with a mass below 30 Earth masses and an orbital period shorter than 50 days. This implies that one solar-like star out of three harbours such planets.

Hunt For Superearth Planets Underway

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:24:24 EDT

NASA's EPOXI mission, which uses the Deep Impact spacecraft, has begun its search for "super Earth" planets.

Physicist Reads Solar System's History In Grains Of Comet Dust

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:32:32 EST

Four years ago, NASA's Stardust spacecraft chased down a comet and collected grains of dust blowing off its nucleus. When the spacecraft Comet Wild-2 returned, comet dust was shipped to scientists all over the world, including University of Minnesota physics professor Bob Pepin. After testing helium and neon trapped in the dust specks, Pepin and his colleagues report that while the comet formed in the icy fringes of the solar system, the dust appears to have been born close to the infant sun.

Solving Solar System Quandaries Is Simple: Just Flip-flop The Position Of Uranus And Neptune

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:27:27 EST

The planets in our solar system weren't always in the order they are today. Four billion years ago, early in the solar system's evolution, Uranus and Neptune switched places, according to new work by a Arizona State University researcher, who based this conclusion on calculations of the surface density of the solar nebula. The solar nebula is the disk of gas and dust out of which all of the planets formed.

Astronomers Discover Record Fifth Planet Around Nearby Star 55 Cancri

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:30:30 EST

A record-breaking fifth planet has been discovered around 55 Cancri, a yellowish star 41 lightyears from Earth and now the only known star apart from the Sun with 5 planets. The discovery implies that the star has more planets that are smaller than the gas giants found so far and possibly include a rocky, Earth-like planet.

Dwarf Galaxies Need Dark Matter Too, Astronomers Say

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:08:08 EDT

Stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies behave in a way that suggests the galaxies are utterly dominated by dark matter, astronomers have found. Astronomers measured the velocity of 6,804 stars in seven dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. They found that, contrary to what Newton's law of gravity predicts, stars in these galaxies do not move slower the farther they are from their galaxy's core.

A Warm South Pole? Yes, On Neptune!

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:06:06 EDT

Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope has discovered that the south pole of Neptune is much hotter than the rest of the planet. This is consistent with the fact that it is late southern summer and this region has been in sunlight for about 40 years.

Astronomers Find Highly Elliptical Disk Around Young Star

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 19:02:02 EDT

Dust and debris parade in an extremely misshapen ring around the young star, HD 15115. The disk, seen edge-on with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, is the dense blue line extending from the star to the upper right and lower left of the image. The disk appears thicker at upper right than at lower left, evidence of its lopsided structure. Astronomers think the disk's needle-like look is caused by dust particles following a highly elliptical orbit around the star.

Diamonds Unlikely In Gas Giants Like Uranus

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:35:35 EDT

A new study finds that diamonds probably don't crystallize in the atmospheres of planets such as Uranus and Neptune. The conclusion is contrary to recent speculation that small diamonds would spontaneously form in carbon rich layers of the gas giant planets. White dwarf stars, according to the study, are veritable diamond factories.

Computer Models Suggest Planetary And Extrasolar Planet Atmospheres

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:56:56 EDT

The world is abuzz with the discovery of an extrasolar, Earthlike planet around the star Gliese 581 that is relatively close to our Earth at 20 light years away in the constellation Libra. Scientists have worked on computer models that can provide hints to what comprises the atmosphere of such planets and better-known celestial bodies in our own solar system.

Hidden Planet Pushes Star's Ring A Billion Miles Off-center

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:21:21 EDT

A young star's strange elliptical ring of dust likely heralds the presence of an undiscovered Neptune-sized planet according to astronomers. Stars in the early stages of life are surrounded by dust clouds that thin out and dissipate as the star reaches maturity, becoming rings in their final stages. One star, however, has a dust ring that has long puzzled astronomers because it is not centered around the star as usual. Instead, the ring is elliptical, with the parent star off to one side.

Astronomers Detect Shadow Of Water World In Front Of Nearby Star

Wed, 16 May 2007 15:10:10 EDT

A team of European astronomers has measured the transit of a Neptune-sized planet around another star. For the first time, the size and density of such a small extra-solar planet has been measured, showing that this planet is made up mainly of water.

Comet Particles Tell New Story About Birth Of Solar System

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 12:31:31 EST

Particulate materials captured from the comet Wild two have revealed clues about the birth of our solar system that counter some of the basic theories that the solar nebular is gently collapsing inward to form the sun and the planets.

Hubble Discovers Dark Cloud In The Atmosphere Of Uranus

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 21:16:16 EDT

Just as we near the end of the hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, winds whirl and clouds churn 2 billion miles away in the atmosphere of Uranus, forming a dark vortex large enough to engulf two-thirds of the United States.

Three New 'Trojan' Asteroids Found Sharing Neptune's Orbit

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 18:08:08 EDT

Three new objects locked into roughly the same orbit as Neptune--called "Trojan" asteroids--have been found by researchers from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) and the Gemini Observatory in Hilo, Hawaii. The discovery offers evidence that Neptune, much like its big cousin Jupiter, hosts thick clouds of Trojans in its orbit, and that these asteroids probably share a common source. It also brings the total of known Neptune Trojans to four.

Three Neptune-Size Planets Found In Nearby Star System

Thu, 18 May 2006 22:29:29 EDT

Using the ultra-precise HARPS spectrograph on ESO's 3.6-m telescope at La Silla (Chile), a team of European astronomers have discovered that a nearby star is host to three Neptune-mass planets. The innermost planet is most probably rocky, while the outermost is the first Neptune-mass planet to reside in the habitable zone. This unique system is likely further enriched by an asteroid belt.

New Capture Scenario Explains Origin Of Neptune's Oddball Moon Triton

Thu, 11 May 2006 08:39:39 EDT

Triton, unique among all the large moons in the solar system because it orbits Neptune in a direction opposite to the planet's rotation, may have abandoned an earlier partner to arrive in its unusual orbit. According to a new model for the capture of planetary satellites, Triton was originally a member of a binary pair of objects orbiting the Sun before it was captured by Neptune in a three-body gravitational encounter.

Hubble Makes Movie Of Neptune's Dynamic Atmosphere

Fri, 02 Sep 2005 06:42:42 EDT

New NASA Hubble Space Telescope images of the distant planet Neptune show a dynamic atmosphere and capture the fleeting orbits of its satellites. The images have been assembled into a time-lapse movie revealing the orbital motion of the satellites.

Scientists Discover Pluto Kin Is A Member Of Saturn Family

Sat, 07 May 2005 09:56:56 EDT

Saturn's battered little moon Phoebe is an interloper to the Saturn system from the deep outer solar system, scientists have concluded. Phoebe was left behind from the solar nebula, the cloud of interstellar gas and dust from which the planets formed.

Cassini Finds An Atmosphere On Saturn's Moon Enceladus

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 13:33:33 EST

The Cassini spacecraft's two close flybys of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus have revealed that the moon has a significant atmosphere. Scientists, using Cassini's magnetometer instrument for their studies, say the source may be volcanism, geysers, or gases escaping from the surface or the interior.

Nuclear-powered Mission To Neptune Could Answer Questions About Planetary Formation

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 03:16:16 EST

In 30 years, a nuclear-powered space exploration mission to Neptune and its moons may begin to reveal some of our solar system's most elusive secrets about the formation of its planets -- and recently discovered ones that developed around other stars. This vision of the future is the focus of a 12-month planning study conducted by a diverse team of experts led by Boeing Satellite Systems and funded by NASA.

Rings Around The Planets: Recycling Of Material May Extend Ring Lifetimes

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 18:27:27 EST

Although rings around planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are relatively short-lived, new evidence implies that the recycling of orbiting debris can lengthen the lifetime of such rings, according to University of Colorado researchers.

Did Our Sun Capture Alien Worlds? Close Encounter May Explain Some Objects Beyond Neptune

Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:58:58 EST

Computer simulations show a close encounter with a passing star about 4 billion years ago may have given our solar system its abrupt edge and put small, alien worlds into distant orbits around our sun.

Scientists Discover First Of A New Class Of Extrasolar Planets

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 16:11:11 EDT

Astronomers have announced the first discovery of a new class of planets beyond our solar system about 10 to 20 times the size of Earth - far smaller than any previously detected. The planets make up a new class of Neptune-sized extrasolar planets.