Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have identified a significant dark spot in Neptune’s atmosphere, with an adjacent smaller bright spot….
Neptune’s clouds have nearly disappeared for the first time in three decades. Observations indicate a potential link between the planet’s cloud patterns and the solar…
As Sunspots Come and Go, So Does the Cloudy Weather on the Blue Giant Planet Weather forecast for Neptune: After sunny weather for the past…
A key aspect of the study was the deployment of density functional theory (DFT), a method derived from quantum mechanics and used in solid-state physics…
Planets are surrounded by rings because they are made up of particles that orbit the planet. These particles can be made up of a variety…
Webb Space Telescope Infrared Observations Tease Out Never Seen Atmospheric and Ring Details At an average distance of 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers) from…
SLAC scientists found that oxygen boosts this exotic precipitation, revealing a new path to make nanodiamonds here on Earth. According to new research, “diamond rain,”…
China is Considering a Nuclear-Powered Mission to Neptune Some bold and cutting-edge space missions are proposed for the coming decade, as made clear by the…
Observations from Gemini Observatory and other telescopes reveal that excess haze on Uranus makes it paler than Neptune. Astronomers may now understand why the similar…
Using ground-based telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), an international team of astronomers track Neptune’s atmospheric temperatures over a 17-year…
Neptune Is Cooler Than We Thought New research led by space scientists at the University of Leicester has revealed how temperatures in Neptune’s atmosphere have…
Probing the structures and properties of superionic ice. A layer of “hot,” electrically conductive ice could be responsible for generating the magnetic fields of ice…
Mushballs – giant, slushy hailstones made from a mixture of ammonia and water – may be responsible for an atmospheric anomaly at Neptune and Uranus…
It’s been 30 years since NASA last visited Venus, with the Magellan orbiter in 1990. Now, two new missions have been selected to explore the deadly atmosphere, crushing…
While scientists have amassed considerable knowledge of the rocky planets in our solar system, like Earth and Mars, much less is known about the icy…
Uranus and Neptune both have a completely skewed magnetic field, perhaps due to the planets’ special inner structures. But new experiments by ETH Zurich researchers…
This video is a full-globe map of the distant planet Neptune, created from Hubble Space Telescope data taken January 7-8, 2020. The movie reveals Neptune’s…
One of four concepts being considered for a Discovery Program mission, Trident would investigate one of the solar system’s most unusual worlds. When NASA’s Voyager…