News Archive / Tagged: Solar System
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New Horizons is still doing science in the Kuiper Belt
Laurel KornfeldApril 28th, 2023Now traveling far into the Kuiper Belt, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft continues to conduct science observations more than four years after flying by its second target, Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) Arrokoth, in 2019.
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Early solar system may have had a 5th giant planet
Laurel KornfeldJune 4th, 2022Billions of years ago, when the Sun was still a proto-star that had not yet ignited, the young solar system may have contained a fifth giant planet in addition to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
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Lucy probe launching to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids this month
Laurel KornfeldOctober 1st, 2021Lucy, the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, has completed eight weeks of preparation ahead of its planned Oct. 16 launch.
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Scientists trace meteor showers back to long-period comets
Laurel KornfeldJune 19th, 2021Scientists traced up to 15 lesser-known meteor showers through which Earth travels annually to long-period comets with orbits that take up to 4,000 years.
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Titan sample return mission being explored by NASA engineers
Laurel KornfeldMay 30th, 2021Funded by a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program grant, scientists are exploring a possible mission to return samples from Saturn's moon Titan.
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Robotic spacecraft spent 2018 exploring the solar system and cosmos
Laurel KornfeldDecember 31st, 2018Robotic spacecraft launched by the world's space agencies spent 2018 studying the Sun, planets and asteroids as well as the cosmos beyond the Solar System.
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Interstellar ‘Oumuamua gives scientists new insights into formation of planetary systems
Laurel KornfeldApril 5th, 2018Interstellar asteroid 'Oumuamua spent only a short time traveling through the Solar System, but its passage is providing scientists with new insights into the formation processes of planetary systems.
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Six New Horizons scientists propose geophysical planet definition
Laurel KornfeldFebruary 8th, 2017Six scientists who work on NASA's New Horizons mission propose a geophysical planet definition in an abstract from a presentation to be made at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
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Dwarf planet with eccentric orbit discovered in the Kuiper Belt
Laurel KornfeldJuly 13th, 2016Astronomers working on a study of the orbital structure and history of the outer Solar System announced their discovery of a new dwarf planet beyond Pluto in a 700-year eccentric solar orbit.
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New Horizons extended mission approved; Sputnik Planum nitrogen ice shows intricate patterns
Laurel KornfeldJuly 6th, 2016NASA has officially given the green light to the mission extension of their New Horizons spacecraft – a visit to the small Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) known as 2014 MU69, located close to a billion miles beyond Pluto.
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Curiosity rover finds surprising sand dunes
Jim SharkeyJuly 3rd, 2016Studies of the "Bagnold Dunes" by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover have resulted in the discovery of an unusual type of wind-sculpted sand ripples not found on Earth. The rover began its investigation of the dunes on the northwestern flanks of Mount Sharp six months ago.
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How much water is inside Jupiter? NASA’s Juno spacecraft is about to find out
Tomasz NowakowskiJune 30th, 2016NASA’s Juno spacecraft is just a few days shy of its arrival at the Solar System’s biggest planet. The highly anticipated mission is about to take a peek into the real nature of Jupiter, hopefully providing new insights about the structure of this gaseous giant. Juno could be on the verge of redefining our current knowledge about what lies deep beneath Jupiter’s thick and violent atmosphere.
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Pluto’s moon Charon has giant canyon; New Horizons studies small KBO
Laurel KornfeldJune 28th, 2016Argo Chasma, a huge canyon located on the eastern limb of Pluto's largest moon, Charon, is longer, deeper, and more complex than the Grand Canyon on Earth.
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Enhanced color image shows Pluto’s rugged highlands; new textbook will discuss mission findings
Laurel KornfeldJune 14th, 2016The latest image released by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft mission team centers on a dark region of rugged highlands known as Krun Macula, which borders the bottom of Sputnik Planum, the icy plain comprising the left side of Pluto's 'heart'.
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Pluto’s Sputnik Planum resurfaced by convection; backlit images reveal haze, surface details
Laurel KornfeldJune 7th, 2016The process of convection regularly resurfaces the ices that comprise the polygonal terrain of Pluto's Sputnik Planum – an area of 900,000 square kilometers on the left side of its 'heart' feature – approximately every 500,000 years.
