Scientists have hypothesized since the 1960s that the Sun is a source of ingredients that form water on the Moon. When a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind smashes into the lunar surface, the idea goes, it triggers a chemical reaction that could make water molecules. Now, in the most realistic lab […]
Category: The Solar System
Have We Been to Uranus? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 56
Have we ever been to Uranus? The answer is simple, yes, but only once. The Voyager II spacecraft flew by the planet Uranus back in 1986, during a golden era when the Voyager spacecraft explored all four giant planets of our solar system. It revealed an extreme world, a planet that had been bowled over […]
Hubble Helps Determine Uranus’ Rotation Rate with Unprecedented Precision
An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made new measurements of Uranus’ interior rotation rate with a novel technique, achieving a level of accuracy 1,000 times greater than previous estimates. By analyzing more than a decade of Hubble observations of Uranus’ aurorae, researchers have refined the planet’s rotation period and […]
Eclipses, Science, NASA Firsts: Heliophysics Big Year Highlights
One year ago today, a total solar eclipse swept across the United States. The event was a cornerstone moment in the Heliophysics Big Year, a global celebration of the Sun’s influence on Earth and the entire solar system. From October 2023 to December 2024 — a period encompassing two solar eclipses across the U.S., two […]
What’s Up: April 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA
April (Meteor) Showers and See a City of Stars! Enjoy observing planets in the morning and evening sky, look for Lyrid meteors, and hunt for the “faint fuzzy” wonder that is the distant and ancient city of stars known as globular cluster M3. Skywatching Highlights All Month – Planet Visibility: Daily Highlights: April 1 & […]
What’s Up: April 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA
April (Meteor) Showers and See a City of Stars! Enjoy observing planets in the morning and evening sky, look for Lyrid meteors, and hunt for the “faint fuzzy” wonder that is the distant and ancient city of stars known as globular cluster M3. Skywatching Highlights All Month – Planet Visibility: Daily Highlights: April 1 & […]
20-Year Hubble Study of Uranus Yields New Atmospheric Insights
The ice-giant planet Uranus, which travels around the Sun tipped on its side, is a weird and mysterious world. Now, in an unprecedented study spanning two decades, researchers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered new insights into the planet’s atmospheric composition and dynamics. This was possible only because of Hubble’s sharp resolution, spectral capabilities, […]
How Can I See the Northern Lights? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 54
How can I see the northern lights? To see the northern lights, you need to be in the right place at the right time. Auroras are the result of charged particles and magnetism from the Sun called space weather dancing with the Earth’s magnetic field. And they happen far above the clouds. So you need […]
How Can I See the Northern Lights? We Asked a NASA Expert: Episode 54
How can I see the northern lights? To see the northern lights, you need to be in the right place at the right time. Auroras are the result of charged particles and magnetism from the Sun called space weather dancing with the Earth’s magnetic field. And they happen far above the clouds. So you need […]
NASA’s Webb Captures Neptune’s Auroras For First Time
Long-sought auroral glow finally emerges under Webb’s powerful gaze For the first time, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured bright auroral activity on Neptune. Auroras occur when energetic particles, often originating from the Sun, become trapped in a planet’s magnetic field and eventually strike the upper atmosphere. The energy released during these collisions creates […]