Mushballs – Giant, Slushy Hailstones – Stash Away Missing Ammonia at Uranus and Neptune
Mushballs – giant, slushy hailstones made from a mixture of ammonia and water – may be responsible for an atmospheric anomaly at Neptune and Uranus…
Uranus
Deep Water on Ice Giants Neptune and Uranus May Be Magnesium-Rich
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…
Two Strange Planets: Unsolved Magnetic Mystery on Uranus and Neptune
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…
First Detection of X-rays From Uranus
Astronomers have announced the first detection of X-rays from Uranus. Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, is an ice giant planet in the outer…
Scientists Long Puzzled by Uranus’ Mysterious Oddities – Japanese Astronomers Find Answers
Uranus’ strange axis of rotation and the unusual properties of its moons and ring system are likely due to an ancient giant icy impact. The…
NASA Scientists Find Secret in Decades-Old Voyager 2 Data About the Ice Giant Uranus
The ice giant Uranus appears to be losing a bit of its atmosphere to space, perhaps siphoned away by the planet’s magnetic field. Eight and…
Astronomers Reveal ‘Cataclysmic’ Collision Shaped Uranus’ Evolution
New research shows that Uranus was hit by a massive object roughly twice the size of Earth that caused the planet to tilt and could…
Scientists Detect Hydrogen Sulfide in the Cloud Tops of Uranus
Hydrogen sulfide, the gas that gives rotten eggs their distinctive odor, permeates the upper atmosphere of the planet Uranus – as has been long debated,…
NASA Astronomers Complete Ice Giant Mission Study
NASA has released the first study of potential future missions to the mysterious “ice giant” planets Uranus and Neptune. The Ice Giant Mission Study is…
Hubble Image of the Week – Alien Aurorae on Uranus
This Hubble image of the week is a composite image of Uranus by Voyager 2 and two different observations made by Hubble — one for…
Astronomers Reveal That Uranus May Have Two Undiscovered Moons
New research suggests that there could be two previously undiscovered moonlets orbiting near Uranus’ rings. Rob Chancia, a University of Idaho doctoral student, spotted key…
New Clues About Hidden the Interior of Uranus Revealed
Using images NASA’s Voyager-2, astronomer Erich Karkoschka has uncovered features in Uranus’ atmosphere that reveal an unexpected, strange rotation pattern and point to the possible…
Astronomers Discover ‘Trojan’ Asteroid Sharing the Orbit of Uranus
Astronomers from the University of British Columbia have identified a 60 kilometer-wide asteroid that shares the orbit of Uranus. UBC astronomers have discovered the first…
Researchers Confirm Three Asteroids Are Co-Orbital with Uranus
In two new studies, researchers confirm that the 70km asteroid Crantor and two smaller asteroids (2010 EU65 and 2011 QF99) are co-orbiting with Uranus. Astrophysicists from the…
Weather on Uranus and Neptune Limited to a “Weather Layer”
In a newly published study, researchers detail the atmospheric circulation patterns of Uranus and Neptune, finding that the streams of gas observed in the atmosphere…
Keck II Telescope Peers into Uranus’ Depths Using Adaptive-Optics
These images showcase the fine-scale structure of the atmosphere of Uranus, and contain vastly more detail than other images. The images were taken by the…