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Recent discoveries about the solar system

NASA Planetary Science Highlights: 2021

This series of images taken in 2018, 2019, and 2020 by the Hubble Space Telescope shows slight changes in the atmosphere on Saturn''s northern hemisphere as the season changes from summer to fall after seven long Earth years of summer.Over three years, the equator got 5 to 10 percent brighter, and the winds changed slightly. In 2018, winds

Hidden Kuiper Belt Objects Detected by New Horizons and

The primordial solar nebula was much larger than previously thought, and this may have implications for studying the planet formation process in our Solar System," says Dr. Yoshida. New Horizons mission Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern says, "This is a groundbreaking discovery revealing something unexpected, new, and exciting in the

Timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their moons

The timeline of discovery of Solar System planets and their natural satellites charts the progress of the discovery of new bodies over history. Each object is listed in chronological order of its discovery (multiple dates occur when the moments of imaging, observation, and publication differ), identified through its various designations (including temporary and permanent schemes), and

Hubble Science Themes

Overview Hubble''s three decades of exploration have forever changed our understanding of the universe. Its discoveries have won the Nobel Prize, proven Einstein''s theories, detected planets beyond our solar system, enlightened our understanding of dark matter and dark energy, and prompted questions that go beyond those we first sought to answer with it. Hubble is []

The New Solar System: What We Know So Far

Today, we live in a new solar system we can explore through gorgeous images. "New" refers to the new types of objects we know about after more than half a century of exploration, as well as to new ways of thinking about existing objects. There remains much to be discovered, and even though our solar system itself is more than 4.5 billion

12 James Webb Space Telescope findings that changed our

On Aug. 24, 2023, more than three decades after the first confirmation of planets beyond our own solar system, scientists announced the discovery of six new exoplanets, stretching that number to 5,502.

Unexpected Discovery by NASA''s New Horizons Redefines Solar System

NASA ''s New Horizons has discovered unexpectedly high dust levels in the Kuiper Belt, hinting at a larger expanse or a new belt, reshaping our understanding of the solar system''s outer edge. New observations from NASA''s New Horizons spacecraft hint that the Kuiper Belt – the vast, distant outer zone of our solar system populated by

A Whole New Jupiter: First Science Results from NASA''s Juno

Early science results from NASA''s Juno mission to Jupiter portray the largest planet in our solar system as a complex, gigantic, turbulent world, with Earth-sized polar cyclones, plunging storm systems that travel deep into the heart of the gas giant, and a mammoth, lumpy magnetic field that may indicate it was generated closer to the planet''s surface than previously

A new solar system has been found in the Milky Way. All 6

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,...

Solar System Exploration

Exoplanets

Overview Most of the exoplanets discovered so far are in a relatively small region of our galaxy, the Milky Way. ("Small" meaning within thousands of light-years of our solar system; one light-year equals 5.88 trillion miles, or 9.46 trillion kilometers.) Even the closest known exoplanet to Earth, Proxima Centauri b, is still about 4 light-years []

2nd Kuiper Belt? Our solar system may be much larger than thought

"This is a groundbreaking discovery revealing something unexpected, new and exciting in the distant reaches of the solar system," said Alan Stern, who is the principal investigator on the New

NASA Reveals Webb Telescope''s First Images of Unseen Universe

Webb''s first observations were selected by a group of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. They reveal the capabilities of all four of Webb''s state-of-the-art scientific instruments:. SMACS 0723: Webb has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far – and in only 12.5 hours.

Scorching, Seven-Planet System Revealed by New Kepler

A system of seven sweltering planets has been revealed by continued study of data from NASA''s retired Kepler space telescope: Each one is bathed in more radiant heat from their host star per area than any planet in our solar system. Also unlike any of our immediate neighbors, all seven planets in this system, named Kepler-385, are larger than Earth but

The discovery of the Kuiper Belt revamped our view of the solar system

That may mean that parts of the solar system formed much more rapidly than previously believed, says Buie, who discovered Arrokoth in 2014. "Already Arrokoth has rewritten the textbooks on how

NASA''s Webb Detects Carbon Dioxide in Exoplanet Atmosphere

NASA''s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system. This observation of a gas giant planet orbiting a Sun-like star 700 light-years away provides important insights into the composition and formation of the planet. The finding, accepted for publication in Nature, offers

Scientists have discovered a theoretically habitable, Earth-size

Two teams of scientists have discovered a theoretically habitable planet, smaller than Earth but bigger than Venus, orbiting a small star about 40 light-years away.. The exoplanet, named Gliese

Astronomers Discover Mysterious New Objects Beyond the Edge

Groundbreaking Discovery and Future Prospects. New Horizons mission Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern says, "This is a groundbreaking discovery revealing something unexpected, new, and exciting in the distant reaches of the Solar System; this discovery probably would not have been possible without the world-class capabilities of Subaru

Discovery Alert: A ''Super-Earth'' in the Habitable Zone

The discovery: A "super-Earth" ripe for further investigation orbits a small, reddish star that is, by astronomical standards, fairly close to us – only 137 light-years away. The same system also might harbor a second, Earth-sized planet. Key facts: The bigger planet, dubbed TOI-715 b, is about one and a half times as wide as Earth, and orbits within the "conservative"

NASA Releases First Breathtaking Images Taken by James

The initial images include the Carina Nebula, a dynamic region of new star birth with at least a dozen massive stars 50 to 100 times the size of our own Sun, and the Southern Ring Nebula, a huge

Solar System Exploration

The solar system has one star, eight planets, five dwarf planets, at least 290 moons, more than 1.3 million asteroids, and about 3,900 comets. evolution, and nature of the universe have fascinated and confounded humankind for centuries. New ideas and major discoveries made during the 20th century transformed cosmology – the term for the

10 Things to Expect in Planetary Science for 2021

New missions and new milestones are on the calendar for 2021. Here are some of the things to watch for in planetary science, as we continue to explore and learn about our incredible solar system. (Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations). Psyche, the 16th asteroid discovered, may consist largely of metal from the core of an early planet, one

Discovery Alert: Two New, Rocky Planets in the Solar Neighborhood

The discovery: NASA''s TESS mission has found two rocky worlds orbiting the relatively bright, red dwarf star HD 260655, only 33 light-years away. The new planets, HD 260655 b and HD 260655 c, are among the closest-known rocky planets yet found outside our solar system that astronomers can observe crossing the faces of their stars.

Voyager Finds Three Surprises Near Our Solar System''s Edge

A trio of surprise discoveries from NASA''s Voyager 1 spacecraft reveals intriguing new information about our solar system''s final frontier. The findings appear in the Sept. 23 issue of Science. The surprises come as the hardy, long-lived spacecraft approaches the edge of our solar system, called the heliopause, where the sun''s influence ends and the []

NASA Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth-Size, Habitable

The discovery sets a new record for greatest number of habitable-zone planets found around a single star outside our solar system. All of these seven planets could have liquid water – key to life as we know it – under the right atmospheric conditions, but the chances are highest with the three in the habitable zone.

NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New

The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system.

Outer Solar System More Populated than We Thought

Observations of the outer Solar System with the Subaru Telescope have discovered new bodies where none were expected. The new objects are likely members of a much larger population waiting to be discovered. This discovery has profound implications for our understanding of the structure and history of the Solar System. First and foremost, it suggests

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Did astronomers discover a rare in-sync Solar System?

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, can help explain how solar systems across the Milky Way galaxy came to be.

Is there a new solar system in the Milky Way?

A new solar system has been found in the Milky Way. All 6 planets are perfectly in-sync, astronomers say. November 30, 2023 / 3:17 PM EST / CBS/AP 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.

How many exoplanets have been discovered?

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched in 2018 and has identified thousands of exoplanet candidates and confirmed over 320 planets. NASA's flagship space telescopes Spitzer, Hubble, and most recently the James Webb Space Telescope have also been used to discover and study exoplanets.

What did we learn about the Solar System in 2023?

From shrinking planets and new moons to an icy supervolcano and mysterious spots, here are the 10 wildest things we learned about the solar system in 2023. "Wrinkles" on Mercury's surface suggest it has been shrinking for most of its lifetime.

How many planets did Spitzer discover?

Assisted by several ground-based telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, Spitzer confirmed the existence of two of these planets and discovered five additional ones, increasing the number of known planets in the system to seven.

Where did NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft build the magnetometers?

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., built the magnetometers. Written by: Jane Platt A trio of surprise discoveries from NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft reveals intriguing new information about our solar system’s final frontier. The findings appear in the Sept. 23 issue of Science.

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