The Sun is orbited by eight planets, at least five dwarf planets, tens of thousands of asteroids, and around three trillion comets and icy bodies. Although not all objects of the solar system are as well known as Earth, Jupiter, or other celestial bodies with main character energy, they still make up a valuable part…
Oh, there it is. Jupiter’s unassuming moon Amalthea was spotted in two recent images captured by NASA’s Juno probe.
Astronomers found a new moon orbiting Uranus, as well as two around Neptune. The tiny satellites appeared as faint specks in the outer reaches of the solar system following hours of ground-based observations.
A previously unknown satellite may be shaping the rings of Chariklo, a petite body that orbits the Sun between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, according to a team of astronomers that recently simulated the rings’ dynamics.
Yes, that’s Uranus. The giant icy orb looks more like an agatized dinosaur egg than a planet in this new image by the Webb Space Telescope.
For centuries, astronomers were limited to ground-based observations of the planets, but now we use spacecraft to capture close-up views of our neighboring worlds. Excitingly, our views of solar system planets have been getting progressively better over the decades, as these images attest.
The second supermoon of the month will rise this Wednesday, August 30. It will be even closer to Earth than the first supermoon of the month, the so-called Sturgeon Moon that rose on August 1.
August will kick off with a full supermoon, which is set to rise less than 226,000 miles (363,300 kilometers) from Earth tomorrow night.
