Neptune

Aerocapture is a Free Lunch in Space Exploration

This article was updated on 11/28/23 When spacecraft return to Earth, they don't need to shed all their velocity by…

2 weeks ago

Want to Explore Neptune? Use Triton’s Atmosphere to Put on the Brakes

Aerobraking is commonly used to slow down spacecraft when they arrive at various planetary systems. It requires a spacecraft to…

2 months ago

Neptune's Cloud Cover is Linked to the Solar Cycle

Whenever Neptune reaches its closest point in the sky to Earth, its portrait is taken by the Hubble Space Telescope…

4 months ago

Scientists Examine Geological Processes of Monad Regio on Neptune’s Largest Moon, Triton

In a recent study submitted to the journal Icarus, a team of researchers at the International Research School of Planetary…

10 months ago

Will Triton finally answer, ‘Are we alone?’

We recently examined how and why Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus, could answer the longstanding question: Are we alone? With its…

1 year ago

China is Considering a Nuclear-Powered Mission to Neptune

A team of Chinese scientists have proposed a mission that would explore Neptune and its largest moon Triton using a…

1 year ago

The Rings of Uranus and Neptune Could Help map Their Interiors

Mapping the interior of the ice giants is difficult, to say the least. Not only are they far away and…

1 year ago

Why are Uranus and Neptune Different Colors? Haze

Way back in the late 1980s, the Voyager 2 spacecraft visited Uranus and Neptune. During the flybys, we got to…

2 years ago

Neptune’s Temperature is Behaving Strangely

One of the great things about science is that it builds on itself over time.  Data collected decades ago is…

2 years ago

Why do Uranus and Neptune Have Magnetic Fields? Hot ice

The outer “ice giant” planets, Neptune and Uranus, have plenty of mysteries.  One of the biggest is where exactly they…

2 years ago