Observing Ice Giant Atmospheres

Uranus is one of our solar system’s oddest inhabitants, stuck spinning on its side with a tilted and offset magnetosphere. To better understand it, a team observed the planet for 17 hours with JWST. The near-infrared measurements gave new insight into the planet’s ionosphere, where auroras form. They found that temperatures peaked between 3,000 and 4,000 kilometers, while ion densities peaked at 1,000 kilometers. They also confirmed previous observations that Uranus’s upper atmosphere is cooling down. (Image and video credit: ESA/Webb/NASA/CSA/STScI/P. Tiranti/H. Melin/M. Zamani; research credit: P. Tiranti et al.; via Gizmodo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jsn1829OPw

#PPOD: These X-ray computed tomography (XCT) scans, released on March 17, 2026, give us a glimpse inside asteroid Bennu. They show the most common types of crack networks observed in Bennu samples. One has an extensive, interconnected framework of curved cracks, whereas the other has sparse, straight, flat fractures. Credit: NASA/Scott Eckley

Learn more: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/osiris-rex/asteroid-bennus-rugged-surface-baffled-nasa-we-finally-know-why/

#planetaryscience #space #science

#PPOD: This series of images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of the fragmenting #comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) was taken over the course of three consecutive days: Nov. 8, 9, and 10, 2025. This is the first time Hubble has witnessed a comet so early in the process of breaking up. Credit: NASA, ESA, Dennis Bodewits (AU); Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

#planetaryscience #space #science

Fun times enjoying Planetary Science and Robotics at Cape Town Science Centre Open day with the SAPIENT.rocks mars rover for #humanrightsday in #capetown #SouthAfrica

#mars #robotics #robot #python #planetaryscience
https://SAPIENT.rocks

#PPOD: Saturn's fourth-largest moon, Dione, can be seen through the haze of the planet's largest moon, Titan, in this view of the two, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on December 22, 2011, with the planet and its rings in the background. The north polar hood is visible on Titan here, appearing as a detached layer at the top of the moon. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

#planetaryscience #space #science

The skies are busy and the Asteroid Belt has been generous this month. March has seen THREE meteorite falls so far and two in the last week! ☄️ ☄️ ☄️

💥💥 Two of these new falls impacted homes where people live! Luckily there were no injuries.

🔗 News and details about these events are in the latest issue of my newsletter here - https://mailchi.mp/d850c1a4a075/new-germany-fall-9317649

#meteor #meteorite #meteorites #meteoriten #Koblenz #Ohio #Texas #meteoritics #PlanetaryScience