In 1665, astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini observed a massive storm raging on Jupiter. It became known as the Great Red Spot, a swirling oval of clouds that’s almost twice as wide as Earth. New research, however, suggests that the red-hued feature spotted by Cassini is not the same storm we see today.
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.
There are jets in Jupiter’s magnetosheath, according to Voyager 2 mission data from 1979. The 45-year-old information is now revealing the dynamics of the plasma stream.
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.
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.
In July 2022, the Webb Space Telescope detected an intense jet shooting across the equator of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. The jet is traveling at about 320 miles per hour (515 kilometers per hour) and is about 25 miles (40 km) in altitude, corresponding to Jupiter’s lower stratosphere.
