planets

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Arizona Names 'State Planet' That Is Not a Planet

18 years after Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet, its status is still debated

(Newser) - You surely know by now that Pluto is not a planet in the usual sense. Arizona isn't so sure. The state has recognized Pluto, one of five dwarf planets in our solar system, as its "official state planet." What does that mean? Essentially that Pluto still has...

6-Planet Solar System in Milky Way Has Scientists in Awe

'My jaw was on the floor,' says one of discovery made by NASA, ESA planet-hunting satellites

(Newser) - Astronomers have discovered a rare in-sync solar system with six planets moving like a grand cosmic orchestra, untouched by outside forces since their birth billions of years ago. The find, announced Wednesday in the journal Nature, can help explain how solar systems across the Milky Way galaxy came to be....

Astronomers Get a Preview of Earth's Fate

'If it’s any consolation, this will happen in about 5 billion years'

(Newser) - For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet—not just a nibble or bite, but one big gulp. Astronomers on Wednesday reported their observations of what appeared to be a gas giant around the size of Jupiter or bigger being eaten by...

'Planet Collectors,' This Is Your Week

5 planets—Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, and Mars—will be lining up, with best viewing Tuesday

(Newser) - Keep an eye to the sky this week for a chance to see a planetary hangout. Five planets—Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, and Mars—will line up near the moon, per the AP . More details:
  • Where and when can you see them? The best day to catch the whole group
...

Evidence Suggests Venus Is Volcanically Active 'Right Now'
On Our Sister Planet, the First
Direct Evidence of Eruptions
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 25, 2023 12:50 PM CDT

On Our Sister Planet, the First Direct Evidence of Eruptions

Evidence suggests Venus is volcanically active 'right now'

(Newser) - The second rock from the sun is much like the third, at least in terms of volcanic activity. "It's an active planet—right now," says Robert Herrick, a planetary scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who's found evidence that volcanic eruptions are indeed occurring on...

Hold Up Your Pinkie for Tonight's Sky Event

Jupiter, Venus 'conjunction' will make planets seem to be very close; they're still 400M miles apart

(Newser) - Jupiter and Venus are more than 400 million miles apart, but on Wednesday night, they'll appear to be just a pinkie finger's length apart, with your hand held at arm's length. That's according to AccuWeather , which notes that the month of March will kick off with...

NASA Releases Staggering Photos of Neptune

Our most distant planet's rings are crisp

(Newser) - If you picture Neptune as a blue ring-less planet, new images released Wednesday from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are about to set you straight. The images show what CNN refers to as the planet's "crisp, narrow rings." As Heidi Hammel of the Webb project says,...

As a Moon of Saturn Died, Planet's Rings Were Born
'Pretty Good Story' May
Explain Saturn's Rings
in case you missed it
Sep 18, 2022 3:55 PM CDT

'Pretty Good Story' May Explain Saturn's Rings

Scientists think one of its moons may have exploded eons ago

(Newser) - Saturn's rings are made from the guts of a vanished moon that got a bit too close to the planet. That's the conclusion of a new study that claims not only to explain the formation of the rings but also the significant tilt at which the solar system'...

NASA Gizmo Is Able to Make Oxygen on Mars
Toaster-Size Box Makes
Oxygen on Mars
new study
Sep 2, 2022 12:32 PM CDT

Toaster-Size Box Makes Oxygen on Mars

MOXIE offers hope of clearing a big hurdle for manned missions

(Newser) - The comparisons are small scale at the moment: A device the size of a toaster generated oxygen comparable to that of a modest tree. But given that this took place on Mars, the implications are of the large-scale variety. In a study published in Science Advances , NASA researchers report that...

Rare Planetary Event to Grace Night Skies in June
Ever See 5 Planets
Lined Up Before?
Here's Your Chance
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 11, 2022 6:30 AM CDT

Ever See 5 Planets Lined Up Before? Here's Your Chance

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn will all be aligned in June

(Newser) - Get ready for a planetary sky show not seen since "Hey Ya!" topped the charts and Mark Zuckerberg was launching Facebook out of his college dorm room. Throughout the month of June, those on the US mainland will be able to see, sans telescope, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,...

Venus, Jupiter to Converge This Weekend

Planets' conjunction best viewed early Saturday

(Newser) - Despite being millions of miles apart, Venus and Jupiter appear to meet in the night sky about once a year in what's known as a conjunction. But skywatchers who take in the sight this year are in for a real treat, as the planets will appear much closer than...

Scientists Baffled by Neptune's Temperature Swings
Scientists Baffled by
Neptune's Temperature Swings
NEW STUDY
Apr 12, 2022 10:55 AM CDT

Scientists Baffled by Neptune's Temperature Swings

Temps should be 'slowly growing warmer, not colder' amid southern summer

(Newser) - Neptune's southern hemisphere has spent the last 17 years in its summer season, yet global temperatures have plummeted. It's a head-scratching finding that leaves astronomers with more questions than answers. "Since we have been observing Neptune during its early southern summer, we would expect temperatures to be...

Our Sister Planet Just Got Undressed
Our Sister Planet
Just Got Undressed
NEW STUDY
Apr 30, 2021 9:40 AM CDT

Our Sister Planet Just Got Undressed

Venus' fundamental properties revealed through radar speckle tracking

(Newser) - Scientists have parted the clouds on Venus, our shrouded neighbor, revealing the length of its day, the rough size of its core, and the tilt of its axis. All this took almost 15 years to figure out. Between 2006 and 2020, Jean-Luc Margot and colleagues at the University of California,...

Newly Discovered Planet 'Is a Very Hellish World'

TOI-1431b is 3 times the size of Jupiter and hotter

(Newser) - Being 490 light-years from Earth, a newly discovered planet would be difficult to get to. That's just as well. "This is a very hellish world," an astrophysicist said. That's because, the team that pinpointed it found, TOI-1431b is inhospitably hot—hot enough to melt metal, hotter...

Remember Monday Night's Treat in the Sky

Jupiter and Saturn will appear nearly as one planet, a celestial rarity

(Newser) - The 2020 winter solstice has arrived, and along with it a moment that sky watchers have been anticipating for a while. Jupiter and Saturn will be so close in the night sky that they'll be difficult to distinguish as separate planets, per CNN . This so-called Great Conjunction hasn't...

Astronomers: There's a Space 'Superhighway'
Astronomers Find
Cosmic 'Superhighways'
new paper
Dec 12, 2020 3:40 PM CST

Astronomers Find Cosmic 'Superhighways'

Researchers call it a 'true celestial autobahn'

(Newser) - Think space travel is just too slow? Well, good news: Astronomers say they've uncovered an "autobahn" of invisible interactions that moves objects along—and might just speed up space exploration, Science Alert reports. The new research hinges on "manifolds," or gravitational regions that exist between orbital...

Asteroid Thought to Be Worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000

16 Psyche thought to be massive chunk of iron and nickel

(Newser) - Somewhere between Mars and Jupiter is a potato-shaped space rock possibly worth way more than the entire economy of Earth. Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis discovered the Massachusetts-sized asteroid known as 16 Psyche lurking in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in 1852, per Fox News . New observations...

This Is the Week to Look Up at Mars
This Is
the Week
to Look Up
at Mars
Oct 12, 2020 10:35 AM CDT

This Is the Week to Look Up at Mars

Red planet will be very visible in the night sky

(Newser) - If you're looking for a little break from earthly concerns, Mars might provide an option this week. The red planet is particularly visible to the naked eye in the night sky thanks to a confluence of events, reports NPR . In fact, this will be the best week to see...

Mercury Puts on Rare Show For Us Next Week
Mercury Making a Rare Trip.
Here's How to Watch
UPDATED
Nov 11, 2019 8:42 AM CST

Mercury Making a Rare Trip. Here's How to Watch

It's currently making a transit across the sun

(Newser) - Mercury is in the middle of a rare trip across the sun, and almost everyone in the US should be able to catch at least a glimpse—with modest gear and safety protections. The official term is a "transit," and Mercury showed up as a small black dot...

It's True: The Closest Planet to Every Planet Is ... Mercury
It Turns Out Venus Is
Not Our Closest Neighbor
new study
Mar 15, 2019 9:07 AM CDT

It Turns Out Venus Is Not Our Closest Neighbor

On average, that is

(Newser) - File this one away for bar trivia night: The planet closest to Earth is not Venus. So say researchers in a paper in Physics Today touting the new mathematical method they devised that spit out the true nearest neighbor when distance is averaged over time: Mercury. And here's the...

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