Latest news with #Voyager2
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Science
- Indian Express
Scientists uncover new details about Uranus' atmosphere, strange seasons
Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, owes its pale blue-green in colour to its atmosphere which absorbs the red wavelengths of sunlight, according to a new study. The study was published by a research group comprising scientists from the University of Arizona in the US as well as other institutions. It sheds light on the atmospheric composition and complex dynamics governing the mystery planet. The researchers were able to provide new information about Uranus after analysing images of the planet captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope over the last 20 years. The Hubble images of Uranus were taken between 2002 and 2022. As per the study, Uranus' atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, along with small amounts of methane as well as minute quantities of water and ammonia. Uranus is located between Saturn and Neptune. As the seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus remains one of the least understood planets in our solar system which is why the new research study may be significant. Scientists who authored the study also provided more information about seasonal changes on the planet. Unlike other planets, Uranus' axis of rotation is nearly parallel to its orbital plane. It is likely that Uranus collided with an Earth-sized object, which might be the reason why it is said to be rotating in an 'overturned' position. As a result, it takes 84 years for the planet to complete one revolution around the Sun. This means that the surface of the planet gets sunshine for 42 years and the next 42-year-period is dark. Over the course of the 20-year-long study, researchers were able to observe only a part of the seasonal change of Uranus' atmosphere. The research builds on existing information about Uranus, like the fact that the planet is composed mainly of water and ammonia ice. It is approximately 51,000 kilometres in diameter, making Uranus four times bigger than the Earth with a mass that is 15 times greater than that of Earth's. Uranus also has 13 rings and 28 moons. NASA's Voyager 2 is the only space probe mission that has explored the planet by conducting a flyby in January 1986. However, the group of scientists behind the new study said that they will continue to observe Uranus and gather more information on seasonal changes in its polar regions.
WIRED
27-05-2025
- Science
- WIRED
A New Study Reveals the Makeup of Uranus' Atmosphere
May 27, 2025 5:00 AM Based on 20 years of observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, new research sheds light on one of the solar system's most mysterious planets. This image of Uranus was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in August 2005 using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). You can see the planet's beautiful rings. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/ESA/M. SHOWALTER (SETI INSTITUTE) Uranus, the seventh planet in the solar system, located between Saturn and Neptune, has long been a mystery. But by analyzing observations made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope over a 20-year period, a research team from the University of Arizona and other institutions has provided new insights into the composition and dynamics of the planet's atmosphere. Information about Uranus is limited. What we know is that the planet is composed mainly of water and ammonia ice, its diameter is about 51,000 kilometers, about four times that of the Earth, and its mass is about 15 times greater than Earth's. Uranus also has 13 rings and 28 satellites. In January 1986, NASA's Voyager 2 space probe successfully completed what has been, to date, the only exploration of the planet, conducting a flyby as part of its mission to study the outer planets of the solar system. This image of Uranus was taken by NASA's Voyager 2 space probe in January 1986. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/JPL But thanks to this new research, we now know a little more about this icy giant. According to the research, which assessed Hubble images take between 2002 and 2022, the main components of Uranus' atmosphere are hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of methane and very small amounts of water and ammonia. Uranus appears pale blue-green because methane absorbs the red component of sunlight. This image of Uranus, taken by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, shows nine of the planet's 28 satellites and its rings. PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI The research has also shed light on the planet's seasons. Unlike all of the other planets in the solar system, Uranus' axis of rotation is almost parallel to its orbital plane. For this reason, Uranus is said to be orbiting in an 'overturned' position, as shown in the picture below. It is speculated that this may be due to a collision with an Earth-sized object in the past. Uranus orbiting the sun. It can be seen that Uranus' axis of rotation is almost parallel to its orbital plane. ILLUSTRATION: NASA/ESA/A. FEILD (STSCI) The planet's orbital period is about 84 years, which means that, for a specific point on the surface, the period when the sun shines (some of spring, summer, and some of fall) lasts about 42 years, and the period when the sun does not shine (some of fall, winter, and some of spring) lasts for about 42 years as well. In this study, the research team spent 20 years observing the seasons. These images of Uranus were taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope using its Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). PHOTOGRAPH: NASA/ESA/ERICH KARKOSCHKA (LPL) Over that period, the research team watched as the south polar region darkened going into winter and the north polar region brightened as summer approached. By observing the planet at four different points in time, years apart, they could see how the gradual shifting of the seasons affected the planet. The top row shows how the planet appeared when viewing it with just visible light. The second row from the top is a pseudo-color image based on visible-light and near-infrared observations. Green indicates less methane in the atmosphere than blue, and red indicates the absence of methane. The lower levels of atmospheric methane at the poles (which, remember, are on the planet's sides rather than its top and bottom) indicate that there is little seasonal variation in methane levels. In the left-most image on this row, the green-colored south pole is moving into darkness. In the other three images, the green, lower-methane region of the north pole can be seen coming into view. (The fourth row shows the same lack of methane variation, but without coloration.) But what about the third row? This shows estimates of aerosol abundance, using visible light and infrared images that haven't been colored. The light areas are cloudy with high aerosol abundance, and the dark areas are clear with low aerosol abundance. What is noteworthy in these images is that there is seasonal variation. The arctic region was clear at the beginning of spring (in 2002), but became cloudy as summer progressed (2012 through 2022). Conversely, the antarctic region appears to have cleared as fall progressed into winter. The team believes that these seasonal changes are evidence that sunlight changes levels of aerosol mist on the planet. Although the results of this study cover a long 20-year period, this still only reflects one period of seasonal change in Uranus' atmosphere. The research team will continue to observe Uranus as the polar regions move into news seasons, to gather more data. This story originally appeared on WIRED Japan and has been translated from Japanese.
LeMonde
26-05-2025
- Science
- LeMonde
NASA restarts one of Voyager 1's thrusters after 21 years of inactivity
47 years and eight months after its launch, Voyager 1 continues to push the limits of what seemed possible. Currently 24.88 billion kilometers from Earth – 166 times the distance between Earth and the Sun – Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from our planet. The legendary NASA probe, launched in 1977 alongside its twin, Voyager 2, is set to have its mission extended a little longer since engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced on May 14 that they had successfully revived, remotely, a thruster critical to the spacecraft's survival. Voyager 1 navigates using the positions of stars, which it can read by controlling its roll – that is, its rotation relative to the axis of its antenna – using two thrusters (a main and a backup). Over time, leftover propellant residue deposited after each firing gradually clogged the narrow inlet pipes of the main thruster. This forced engineers to switch both Voyager 1 and 2 to their backup roll thrusters to keep them pointed at their guide stars. But the backup thruster itself gradually became "clogged," leaving the ground team with few options, especially since the main system failed in 2004. At the time, engineers concluded that the failure was "probably irreversible."
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Business Standard
19-05-2025
- Science
- Business Standard
NASA reboots Voyager 1 thrusters after 20 years-24 billion kilometers away
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has been in space for nearly five decades, enduring the harsh environment of outer space. In the latest development, the team at the US space agency managed to restart a thruster believed to have stopped working back in 2004 after losing power in two small internal heaters. Voyager 1, currently cruising through interstellar space at a distance of 15.14 billion miles (24.4 billion kilometres) from Earth, was launched in 1977. Its twin probe, Voyager 2, followed a month later. Both spacecraft are travelling at speeds of around 35,000 miles per hour through interstellar space. Voyagers rely on thrusters Both spacecraft rely on a set of primary thrusters to control their orientation and keep their antennas pointed towards Earth so they can transmit data and receive commands. The main thrusters on the spacecraft are responsible for adjusting its pitch and yaw, while different thrusters handle its roll. These thrusters—both primary and backup—rotate the spacecraft in a way similar to how a vinyl record spins, ensuring that each Voyager stays aligned with a reference star used for navigation in space. A third set of thrusters, primarily used during planetary flybys, was brought back online in 2018 and 2019. However, these are not capable of managing roll adjustments—critical for maintaining communication with Earth. Primary thruster failure and the backup strategy Engineers have long managed the clogged tubes of the Voyagers by switching between primary, backup, and trajectory thrusters. Voyager 1's primary roll thruster stopped functioning in 2004 after its internal heaters failed. At the time, the team deemed the issue unfixable and opted to rely on the backup roll thrusters to keep the spacecraft aligned. Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), which manages the mission for NASA, said, 'I think at that time, the team was OK with accepting that the primary roll thrusters didn't work because they had a perfectly good backup.' He added, 'And frankly, they probably didn't think the Voyagers were going to keep going for another 20 years.' Journey of Voyager 1 thrusters' revival The inability to control roll motion recently posed a major threat to the mission. This prompted the team to revisit the 2004 thruster failure. While investigating, engineers discovered that an unexpected disturbance in the circuit controlling the heaters' power supply had flipped a switch to the wrong position. If they could return it to its original state, the heater might function again—allowing them to reactivate the primary roll thruster in case the backup system, in use since 2004, became fully clogged. Restart under a tight timeline Restarting the heater wasn't easy—it required complex troubleshooting. The team had to work on the dormant roll thrusters and attempt to reactivate the heater. During this process, if the star tracker drifted too far from the guide star, the long-dormant roll thrusters would have automatically fired, thanks to their programming. If the heaters were still off when the thrusters activated, it could have triggered a small explosion. Precision was crucial—the team had to get the star tracker pointed as accurately as possible. One antenna could save the day Despite the time pressure, the team managed to accomplish this feat. From May 4, 2025, through February 2026, the Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43)—a 230-foot-wide (70-meter-wide) antenna in Canberra, Australia—will undergo upgrades and remain offline for most of that period, except for brief windows in August and December. NASA's Deep Space Network consists of three ground-based facilities—located in Goldstone (California), Madrid (Spain), and Canberra—strategically placed to ensure constant contact with distant spacecraft as the Earth rotates. However, DSS-43 is the only antenna powerful enough to send commands to the Voyagers. Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager and director of the Interplanetary Network at JPL, which oversees the Deep Space Network for NASA, said, 'These antenna upgrades are important for future crewed lunar landings, and they also increase communications capacity for our science missions in deep space, some of which are building on the discoveries Voyager made.' She added, 'We've been through downtime like this before, so we're just preparing as much as we can.' Long shot pays off The team watched as the spacecraft executed their commands on March 20. Because of its distance, it takes more than 23 hours for the message to travel from the spacecraft to Earth, which means whatever the team is watching had occurred almost a day earlier. In case the test had failed, the Voyager might already have been in danger. However, within 20 minutes, the team saw the thruster heaters temperature rising dramatically knowing that they had succeeded. Todd Barber, the mission's propulsion lead at JPL, said, 'It was such a glorious moment. Team morale was very high that day.' 'These thrusters were considered dead. And that was a legitimate conclusion. It's just that one of our engineers had this insight that maybe there was this other possible cause and it was fixable. It was yet another miracle save for Voyager,' Barber added.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Stunning new images from James Webb Telescope help unlock mysteries of Jupiter's glowing auroras
Auroras on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth, new images from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed. The solar system's largest planet displays striking dancing lights when high-energy particles from space collide with atoms of gas in the atmosphere near its magnetic poles, similar to how the aurora borealis, or the Northern lights, are triggered on Earth. But Jupiter's version has much greater intensity, according to an international team of scientists who analysed the photos from Webb taken on Christmas in 2023. Related Scientists use rocket to create artificial Northern Lights to better understand space weather Webb previously captured Neptune's glowing auroras in the best detail yet, many decades after they were first faintly detected during a flyby of the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Auroras on Earth are caused by charged particles from the Sun colliding with gases and atoms in the atmosphere near the planet's poles, causing streaks of dancing light in the sky. On Jupiter, additional factors are at play other than solar wind. High-energy particles are also drawn from other sources, including Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. Jupiter's large magnetic field then accelerates these particles to tremendous speeds, hundreds of times faster than the auroras on Earth. The particles slam into the planet's atmosphere, causing gases to glow. James Webb has been able to give more details about how they are formed on Jupiter due to its unique capabilities. The new data and images were captured with its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on December 25, 2023, by a team of scientists led by Jonathan Nichols from the UK's University of Leicester. Related What was this spiral captured amid the Northern Lights in the skies of Alaska? "What a Christmas present it was – it just blew me away!" said Nichols. "We wanted to see how quickly the auroras change, expecting them to fade in and out ponderously, perhaps over a quarter of an hour or so. Instead, we observed the whole auroral region fizzing and popping with light, sometimes varying by the second". The findings were published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications.
