Triton orbits Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, some 2.7 billion miles from Earth—at the cold outer fringe of the Solar System's major planet zone. Surface temperatures hover near absolute zero, so low that common compounds we know as gases...
Related topics: Scientific Discoveries, Moon, Space, Sun
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has discovered three new worlds that are among the smallest, nearest exoplanets known to date. The planets orbit a star just 73 light years away and include a small, rocky super-Earth and two...
Related topics: Space, NASA, Exoplanets, Polls, Satellites, Scientific Discoveries
Scientists identified the chemical “fingerprint” for GJ 3470 b's atmosphere, an exoplanet that’s a cross between Earth and Neptune. Despite being an oddball, planets like this are likely common around other...
Related topics: Telescopes, Hubble Space Telescope, Space, Exoplanets
Out there in space is an unusual exoplanet name Gliese 3470 b (GJ 3470 b.) It’s a strange world, kind of like a hybrid between Earth and Neptune. It has a rocky core like Earth, but is surrounded by an atmosphere made of hydrogen and helium....
Related topics: NASA, Space, Telescopes, Exoplanets, Hydrogen, Helium
Two NASA space telescopes have teamed up to identify, for the first time, the detailed chemical "fingerprint" of a planet between the sizes of Earth and Neptune. No planets like this can be found in our own solar system, but they are common around...
Related topics: Space, Telescopes, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA
Beyond the orbit of the planet Neptune, there are a multitude of icy and rocky small bodies, smaller than planets but larger than comets. These likely formed at the same time as the Solar System, and understanding their origin could provide...
Related topics: Space, Satellites, Comets
When we think of ringed planets in our solar system, Saturn comes to mind for most, and that’s it. Saturn isn’t the only planet that has rings in our solar system, Neptune has rings, and Uranus also has rings. The catch with Uranus is...
Related topics: Space, Saturn
First gas giant spotted in the so-called 'Neptunian Desert' Astrophysicists have discovered a rogue exoplanet that has managed to cling onto its atmosphere despite lying fatally close to its parent star, defying all expectations.…
Related topics: Astrophysics, Scientific Discoveries, Exoplanets
Neptune's largest moon Triton boasts a unique icy mixture of carbon monoxide and nitrogen, which could help astronomers better understand the conditions of other distant, alien worlds.
Related topics: Moon, Space
Astronomers using the Gemini Observatory explore Neptune's largest moon Triton and observe, for the first time beyond the lab, an extraordinary union between carbon monoxide and nitrogen ices. The discovery offers insights into how this volatile...
Related topics: Moon, Space, Scientific Discoveries
It's been decades since a spacecraft visited either Uranus or Neptune — which means scientists are busy dreaming up instruments that could be flown out on the next probe to these ice giants.
Related topics: Spacecrafts
Six months after its unveiling, uncertainty still swirls around the first serious exomoon candidate.
Related topics: Exomoons, Space
Much has changed technologically since NASA's Galileo mission dropped a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere to investigate, among other things, the heat engine driving the gas giant's atmospheric circulation.
Related topics: NASA, Space, Jupiter
NASA’s new planet-hunting telescope, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), just found its first Earth-sized world. Though the Earth-sized planet, and its hot sub-Neptune companion, were first observed by TESS in January 2019,...
Related topics: NASA, Space, Telescopes, Exoplanets, Polls, Satellites
A nearby system hosts the first Earth-sized planet discovered by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite, as well as a warm sub-Neptune-sized world, according to a new paper from a team of astronomers that includes Carnegie's Johanna Teske,...
Related topics: Space, Scientific Discoveries, NASA, Exoplanets, Polls, Satellites
Leonard Fournette was arrested on Thursday for a seemingly avoidable incident, and the Jacksonville Jaguars cannot be happy with their star running back.
According to multiple reports, Fournette was arrested in Neptune Beach, Fla., because of a...
More than a decade ago, three astronomers discovered a minor planet orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. Now they need your help in naming it. To avoid another Boaty McBoatface situation, the team—Meg Schwamb, […]
The post Help Name the Largest...
Related topics: Sun, Space, Scientific Discoveries
Neptune's moon Triton is one of the strangest worlds in the solar system — and that's why scientists are exploring mission concepts that could give them a detailed look at it.
Related topics: Moon, Space
The last and only time astronomers got a close look at Neptune’s moon Triton was in 1989, when Voyager 2 sped by, taking images of just one side of the moon. But that brief encounter revealed plumes of material shooting out from a world so...
Related topics: NASA, Space, Moon
The mighty Jupiter gets a lot of attention for its constantly-shifting face, but it's not the only planet in our solar system with some serious personality. Neptune, the large frozen ball of methane and various other frigid gasses sitting way out in...
Related topics: Telescopes, Hubble Space Telescope, Jupiter, Space