Lucy's epic journey to observe Jupiter's Trojan asteroids requires a reliable communications link back to Earth, and so the spacecraft is outfitted with a 6.5-ft. (2-meter)-wide high gain antenna for this task.
Space Exploration
May 6, 2021
0
6
An international collaboration of astronomers led by a researcher from the Astrobiology Center and Queen's University Belfast has detected a new chemical signature in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet—i.e., a planet ...
Astronomy
Apr 27, 2021
2
371
So you want to find dark matter, but you don't know where to look. A giant planet might be exactly the kind of particle detector you need! Luckily, our solar system just happens to have a couple of them available, and the ...
Astronomy
Apr 12, 2021
60
126
Auroral displays continue to intrigue scientists, whether the bright lights shine over Earth or over another planet. The lights hold clues to the makeup of a planet's magnetic field and how that field operates.
Space Exploration
Apr 9, 2021
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631
The SwRI-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) orbiting Jupiter aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft has detected new faint aurora features, characterized by ring-like emissions, which expand rapidly over time. SwRI scientists determined ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 29, 2021
1
150
An international team of astronomers has detected four new "hot Jupiter" exoplanets as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The newly found alien worlds are at least 10% larger than Jupiter but less massive ...
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, a team of astronomers has directly measured winds in Jupiter's middle atmosphere for the first ...
Astronomy
Mar 18, 2021
0
9569
New results from the Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument on NASA's Juno mission reveal for the first time the birth of auroral dawn storms—the early morning brightening unique to Jupiter's spectacular aurorae. These immense, ...
Astronomy
Mar 16, 2021
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11880
After traveling several billion miles toward the Sun, a wayward young comet-like object orbiting among the giant planets has found a temporary parking place along the way. The object has settled near a family of captured ...
Space Exploration
Feb 25, 2021
0
1766
From aboard the Juno spacecraft, a Southwest Research Institute-led instrument observing auroras serendipitously spotted a bright flash above Jupiter's clouds last spring. The Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) team studied the ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 22, 2021
1
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