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Categories: Mathematics: Statistics, Space: The Solar System
Published NASA's New Horizons mission reveals entirely new kind of world


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.
Published New Horizons successfully explores Ultima Thule


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.
Published New Horizons spacecraft homing in on Kuiper Belt target


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.
Published All about Ultima: New Horizons flyby target is unlike anything explored in space


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.
Published Saturn is losing its rings at 'worst-case-scenario' rate


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.
Published Where did the hot Neptunes go? A shrinking planet holds the answer


'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.
Published A new way to create Saturn's radiation belts


Scientists have discovered a new method to explain how radiation belts are formed around the planet Saturn.
Published Odd bodies, rapid spins keep cosmic rings close


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.
Published Auroras unlock the physics of energetic processes in space


A close study of auroras has revealed new ways of understanding the physics of explosive energy releases in space.
Published Studying Pluto orbiter mission


Astronomers have made several discoveries that expand the range and value of a future Pluto orbiter mission. The breakthroughs define a fuel-saving orbital tour and demonstrate that an orbiter can continue exploration in the Kuiper Belt after surveying Pluto.
Published Surprising chemical complexity of Saturn's rings changing planet's upper atmosphere


A new study based on data from the final orbits last year of NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the rings of Saturn -- some of the most visually stupendous objects in the universe -- are far more chemically complicated than previously was understood.
Published Astronomers find first compelling evidence for a moon outside our solar system


On the hunt for distant worlds, researchers have identified an exomoon candidate around the transiting exoplanet Kepler-1625b that indicates the presence of a previously unknown gas-giant moon.
Published New extremely distant solar system object found during hunt for Planet X


Astronomers have discovered a new extremely distant object far beyond Pluto with an orbit that supports the presence of an even-farther-out, Super-Earth or larger Planet X.
Published Evidence of early planetary shake-up


Scientists have studied an unusual pair of asteroids and discovered that their existence points to an early planetary rearrangement in our solar system.
Published Pluto should be reclassified as a planet, experts say


The reason Pluto lost its planet status is not valid, according to new research.
Published New exoplanet found very close to its star


Using data from NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, an international team has discovered a new exoplanet twice the size of Earth. It orbits its star every six days and is thus very close to it, about 10 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun.
Published Saturn's famous hexagon may tower above the clouds


The long-lived international Cassini mission has revealed a surprising feature emerging at Saturn's northern pole as it nears summertime: a warming, high-altitude vortex with a hexagonal shape, akin to the famous hexagon seen deeper down in Saturn's clouds.
Published New technique to forecast geomagnetic storms developed


Flashes of brightness known as solar flares can be followed by coronal mass ejections that send plasma from the sun into space. These charged particles can then travel to Earth, and when they arrive they wreak havoc on Earth's magnetic field. The result can be beautiful but also destructive: auroras and geomagnetic storms. Researchers now report a method for analyzing magnetic field data that might provide better short-term forecasting of geomagnetic storms.
Published New kind of aurora is not an aurora at all


Thin ribbons of purple and white light that sometimes appear in the night sky were dubbed a new type of aurora when brought to scientists' attention in 2016. But new research suggests these mysterious streams of light are not an aurora at all but an entirely new celestial phenomenon.
Published Astronomers assemble 'light-fingerprints' to unveil mysteries of the cosmos


Earthbound detectives rely on fingerprints to solve their cases; now astronomers can do the same, using 'light-fingerprints' instead of skin grooves to uncover the mysteries of exoplanets.