planetary science
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Astronomers Spot New Aurora in the Gases Around Uranus
Feast your eyes on Uranus’ glowing edges. We’re serious—a team of astronomers has spotted a new aurora on the seventh planet from the Sun, glowing at infrared wavelengths. Ultraviolet aurorae were first spotted on the planet in 1986, but an infrared aurora had never been seen before. The aurora’s discovery was made with the Keck…
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Ouch! Jupiter Just Got Smacked By an Unidentified Celestial Object
As the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter is not one to play with. That doesn’t stop wandering comets or asteroids from testing the gas giant, occasionally crashing into Jupiter due to its enormous size and immense gravitational pull. An amateur astronomer caught a brief impact on Jupiter this week, appearing as a bright…
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Webb Space Telescope Unlocks Secrets of Jupiter’s Moons
Two new studies associated with the James Webb Space Telescope’s Early Release Science program have been published, and both have to do with Jupiter’s moons, namely Ganymede and Io. The first study, led by astronomer Samantha Trumbo from Cornell University and published in Science Advances, presents a fascinating first—the unprecedented detection of hydrogen peroxide on…
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A Skyscraper-Sized Asteroid Is Swinging by Earth Tomorrow (We’ll Be Fine)
An asteroid roughly as long as Chicago’s Willis Tower is tall is set to pass by Earth tomorrow. It poses no threat to our world, like it or not.