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☆ Neptune’s disappearing clouds linked to solar cycle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The findings are “extremely exciting and unexpected, especially since Neptune’s previous period of low cloud activity was not nearly as dramatic and prolonged,” Chavez added. The findings also contradict the idea of the clouds being affected by Neptune’s four seasons, which each last about 40 years. Additionally, Neptune storms rising from the deep atmosphere do influence the planet’s cloud cover — but aren’t related to clouds formed in the upper atmosphere. That variable could interfere with studies looking at correlations between photochemically produced clouds and the solar cycle. More research could also suggest how long the near absence of clouds on Neptune might last.

Persons: ”, Imke de Pater, Neptune brightened, Erandi Chavez, ” Chavez, Neptune, Patrick Irwin, wasn’t, Irwin, Carlos Alvarez, ” Irwin, “ Organizations: CNN —, University of California, NASA, Hubble, Keck, Lick, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, JPL, Caltech, University of Oxford, Keck Observatory Locations: Berkeley, Hawaii, California

☆ Peculiar dead white dwarf star has two faces
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have made a first-of-its-kind discovery — a white dwarf star with two completely different faces. White dwarfs are burnt remains of dead stars. The newly discovered white dwarf has two sides, one made of hydrogen and the other made of helium. Researchers have nicknamed the star Janus, for the Roman god of transition, which has two faces. “We might have possibly caught one such white dwarf in the act.”As the white dwarf cools over time, the heavier and lighter materials may mix together.

Persons: Janus, ”, Ilaria Caiazzo, Caiazzo, Neil Gehrels, ” Caiazzo, “, K, Miller, James Fuller Organizations: CNN —, California Institute of Technology, Observatory, Gran, Canarias, Keck, Caltech Locations: Canary, Maunakea, Hawaii

☆ Ghostly lights paint a new portrait of the Milky Way
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. CNN —The universe is filled with infinite mysteries, and scientists are tackling them, one celestial puzzle at a time. Across the universeAn artist's illustration depicts the Milky Way seen through a neutrino lens, which is shown in blue. National Science FoundationThere is no shortage of scintillating imagery of the Milky Way galaxy — but we’ve never seen it from this perspective. Astronomers used a detector sunk deep into the thick ice of Antarctica to trace “ghost particles” that created a new portrait of the Milky Way.

Persons: James Webb, we’ve, you’ve, exoplanet, Halla, Adam Makarenko, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Virgin Galactic’s, James Webb Space, European Space Agency, . National Science, Schmidt Ocean Institute, Beatles, ”, Keck, —, CNN Space, Science Locations: Antarctica, Costa Rica, Strait, Gibraltar, Spain

☆ Scientists spot a planet that shouldn’t exist
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A Jupiter-like planet located 520 light-years from Earth may be an unlikely survivor after its host star had a temper tantrum. The gas planet is known as 8 UMi b and was named Halla after its initial discovery by Korean astronomers in 2015. The exoplanet orbits a giant star larger than our sun named Baekdu, located in the Ursa Minor, or “Little Bear,” constellation. Halla orbits Baekdu at a distance about half that between the Earth and the sun at 0.46 astronomical units, or 42,759,659 miles (68,815,020 kilometers). While our solar system only has one star, many stars across the universe exist in binary pairs.

Persons: Halla, “, ”, Dan Huber, Marc Hon, ” Huber, Tim Organizations: CNN, Ursa, Australian Research, University of Sydney, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Keck Observatory, Halla, Star Wars Locations: South Korea, Manoa, Canada, France, Hawaii, Mauna Kea

☆ Side-by-side images of Uranus show how NASA's James Webb telescope outclasses Hubble, spotting vivid rings that used to go unseen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

NASA has turned its powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on Uranus. Side-by-side images show once again how much more powerful JWST is than NASA's other space observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, when it comes to infrared imaging. An annotated image points to Uranus's polar cap. Image of Uranus' rings, backlit by the sun. It's not just Uranus's rings that are getting attentionJWST's image also provides a good look at Uranus's mysterious polar cap.

Persons: James Webb, —, Webb, JWST, Hubble, Showalter, It's Organizations: NASA, James Webb Space, Service, Hubble, Keck, ESA, CSA, SETI

☆ It’s the End of a World as We Know It
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Becky Ferreira | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Small stars, like red dwarfs, may shine for trillions of years, whereas the most massive stars explode just a few million years after their births. The light of some stars is polluted with the chemical signatures of planets, suggesting that whole worlds are being digested before our eyes. Those images revealed a star chilling at about 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, about 10 times colder than the searing temperatures expected from red novas. Puzzled, Dr. De and his colleagues observed the star again, this time in infrared light, using another camera at the Palomar Observatory and NASA’s NEOWISE space telescope. It dawned on the researchers that they were most likely watching a star gulping down a planet in real time.

☆ Astronomers observe star swallowing planet for first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —In a world first, scientists have observed the moment that a dying star consumed a planet — a fate that eventually awaits Earth. Astronomers observed this as a white-hot flash, followed by a longer-lasting colder signal, which they later deduced was caused by the star engulfing a planet. “That infrared data made me fall off my chair,” De said, with the readings suggesting the star could have been merging with another star. However, further analysis using readings from NASA’s infrared space telescope, NEOWISE, revealed that the star was in fact consuming a planet. Our own planet will meet the same fate, but not for 5 billion years, researchers say.

☆ Astronomers spot a sneak peek of Earth's death — a star swallowing a planet whole — for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Astronomers discovered a distant star swallowing a planet for the first time ever. Swallowing the planet whole produced a burst of energy that expelled the star's outer layers, causing it to expand and brighten rapidly. Except for a veneer of dust, the star pretty much looked the same as it had before, one year after devouring its planet. The distant planet that just got absorbed by its star was about the size of Jupiter, which is more than 1,300 Earths. (It later turned out, this pre-eruption dust was material from the planet skimming the atmosphere of the star as it orbited closer and closer.)

☆ Webb telescope takes striking image of planet Uranus
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a new stunning image of ice giant Uranus, with almost all its faint dusty rings on display. Uranus has 13 known rings, with 11 of them visible in the new Webb image. A November Hubble image of Uranus (left) captured the planet's bright polar cap, while the recent Webb image displayed more detail, with a subtle enhanced brightness at the cap's center. With the exact mechanism behind the haze unknown, scientists are studying the polar cap using telescope images such as this new Webb image. In this new Webb image, similar to other recent images by the Hubble Space Telescope, storm clouds can be seen at the edge of the polar cap.

☆ Webb telescope spies clouds beneath haze of Saturn moon Titan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has spied clouds on one of the solar system’s most intriguing moons. Titan’s atmosphere is made of nitrogen and methane, which gives it a fuzzy, orange appearance. Astronomers compared Webb (left) and Keck images of Titan to see how clouds evolved. The data, which is still being analyzed, was able to see deeper into Titan’s atmosphere and surface than the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn and its moons for 13 years. The cloud observations were a long time coming.

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