Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
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Tiny Neptune moon spotted by Hubble may have broken from larger moon      (via sciencedaily.com) 

After several years of analysis, a team of planetary scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has at last come up with an explanation for a mysterious moon around Neptune that they discovered with Hubble in 2013.

Space: The Solar System
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LOFAR radio telescope reveals secrets of solar storms      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The team of scientist showed that solar storms can accelerate particles simultaneously in several locations by combining data from the Low Frequency Array, LOFAR, with images from NASA, NOAA and ESA spacecraft.

Space: The Solar System
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Dynamic atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered another mysterious dark storm on Neptune and provided a fresh look at a long-lived storm circling around the north polar region on Uranus.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
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To catch a wave, rocket launches from top of world      (via sciencedaily.com) 

On Jan. 4, 2019, at 4:37 a.m. EST the CAPER-2 mission launched from Norway. The rocket flew through active aurora borealis, or northern lights, to study the waves that accelerate electrons into our atmosphere.

Space: The Solar System
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Missing-link in planet evolution found      (via sciencedaily.com) 

For the first time ever, astronomers have detected a 1.3 km radius body at the edge of the Solar System. Kilometer sized bodies like the one discovered have been predicted to exist for more than 70 years. These objects acted as an important step in the planet formation process between small initial amalgamations of dust and ice and the planets we see today.

Space: The Solar System
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Shedding light on Saturn's moon Titan's mysterious atmosphere      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study tackles one of the greatest mysteries about Titan, one of Saturn's moons: the origin of its thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere. The study posits that one key to Titan's mysterious atmosphere is the 'cooking' of organic material in the moon's interior.

Space: The Solar System
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Mystery orbits in outermost reaches of solar system not caused by 'Planet Nine'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The strange orbits of some objects in the farthest reaches of our solar system, hypothesized by some astronomers to be shaped by an unknown ninth planet, can instead be explained by the combined gravitational force of small objects orbiting the sun beyond Neptune, say researchers.

Space: The Solar System
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Waves in Saturn's rings give precise measurement of planet's rotation rate      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Saturn's distinctive rings were observed in unprecedented detail by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, and scientists have now used those observations to probe the interior of the giant planet and obtain the first precise determination of its rotation rate. The length of a day on Saturn, according to their calculations, is 10 hours 33 minutes and 38 seconds.

Space: The Solar System
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Saturn hasn't always had rings      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In its last days, the Cassini spacecraft looped between Saturn and its rings so that Earth-based radio telescopes could track the gravitational tug of each. Scientists have now used these measurements to determine the mass of the rings and estimate its age, which is young: 10-100 million years. This supports the hypothesis that the rings are rubble from a comet or Kuiper Belt object captured late in Saturn's history.

Space: The Solar System
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Evidence of changing seasons, rain on Saturn's moon Titan's north pole      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An image from the international Cassini spacecraft provides evidence of rainfall on the north pole of Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons. The rainfall would be the first indication of the start of a summer season in the moon's northern hemisphere.

Space: The Solar System
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Giant pattern discovered in the clouds of planet Venus      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have identified a giant streak structure among the clouds covering planet Venus based on observation from the spacecraft Akatsuki. The team also revealed the origins of this structure using large-scale climate simulations.

Space: The Solar System
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New Ultima Thule discoveries from NASA's New Horizons      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which explored Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule earlier this week, is yielding scientific discoveries daily.

Space: The Solar System
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NASA's New Horizons mission reveals entirely new kind of world      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists from NASA's New Horizons mission released the first detailed images of the most distant object ever explored -- the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule. Its remarkable appearance, unlike anything we've seen before, illuminates the processes that built the planets four and a half billion years ago.

Space: The Solar System
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New Horizons successfully explores Ultima Thule      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in the early hours of New Year's Day, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic Kuiper Belt, a region of primordial objects that holds keys to understanding the origins of the solar system.

Space: The Solar System
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New Horizons spacecraft homing in on Kuiper Belt target      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Only hours from completing a historic flyby of Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is on course and ready to gather scientific data on the small object's geology, composition, atmosphere and more. Closest approach takes place in the early morning hours of New Year's Day -- 12:33 a.m. EST -- marking the event as the most distant exploration of worlds ever completed by humankind.

Space: The Solar System
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All about Ultima: New Horizons flyby target is unlike anything explored in space      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is set to fly by a target nicknamed 'Ultima Thule,' 4 billion miles from the Sun, on New Year's Day 2019. No spacecraft has ever explored such a distant world.

Space: The Solar System
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Saturn is losing its rings at 'worst-case-scenario' rate      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New NASA research confirms that Saturn is losing its iconic rings at the maximum rate estimated from Voyager 1 and 2 observations made decades ago. The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn's magnetic field.

Space: The Solar System
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Where did the hot Neptunes go? A shrinking planet holds the answer      (via sciencedaily.com) 

'Where did the hot Neptunes go?' This is the question astronomers have been asking for a long time, faced with the mysterious absence of planets the size of Neptune. Researchers have just discovered that one of these planets is losing its atmosphere at a frantic pace. This observation strengthens the theory that hot Neptunes have lost much of their atmosphere and turned into smaller planets called super-Earths.

Space: The Solar System
Published

A new way to create Saturn's radiation belts      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have discovered a new method to explain how radiation belts are formed around the planet Saturn.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Odd bodies, rapid spins keep cosmic rings close      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Forget those shepherding moons. Gravity and the odd shapes of asteroid Chariklo and dwarf planet Haumea -- small objects deep in our solar system -- can be credited for forming and maintaining their own rings, according new research.