The spacecraft did not take images of Uranus. April 19, 2022: A new mission to Uranus was one of the highest priority objectives outlined in the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. The possibility of a flagship mission to Uranus will be a focus of planetary science at NASA in the years to come. Oct. 2024: NASA's Hubble ...
Voyager 2 is the only space probe to have visited the Uranus system, completing a flyby on January 24, 1986. The 2011-2022 Planetary Science Decadal Survey recommended a Flagship-class orbiter mission to an ice giant with priority behind what would become the Mars 2020 rover and the Europa Clipper. [5] [6] [7] Ice giants are now appreciated as a common type of exoplanet, precipitating the need ...
The Voyager II spacecraft flew by the planet Uranus back in 1986, during a golden era when the Voyager spacecraft explored all four giant planets of our solar system. It revealed an extreme world, a planet that had been bowled over onto its side by some extreme cataclysm early in the formation of the solar system.
A year on Uranus lasts 84 Earth years and Voyager 2 flew past during the southern hemisphere's summer, so if scientists want the most contrast with that mission's views then the new spacecraft ...
An image of the planet Uranus taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986. NASA/JPL-Caltech. Uranus is a very cold and windy world. The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 28 small moons. Uranus rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle from the plane of its orbit. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin sideways, orbiting the Sun like a ...
While Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to visit Uranus, which occurred in January 1986, that brief flyby continues to provide scientists with data used to this day, including recently ...
When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, it provided scientists’ first — and, so far, only — close glimpse of this strange, sideways-rotating outer planet. Alongside the discovery of new moons and rings, baffling new mysteries confronted scientists. The energized particles around the planet defied their understanding of ...
MUSE (Mission to Uranus for Science and Exploration [3]) is a European proposal for a dedicated mission to the planet Uranus to study its atmosphere, interior, moons, rings, and magnetosphere. [2] [4] It is proposed to be launched with an Ariane 6 in 2026, travel for 16.5 years to reach Uranus in 2044, and would operate until 2050.[4]The European Space Operations Centre would monitor and ...
In January 1986, Voyager 2 became the first — and so far the only — spacecraft to explore Uranus, and with its data, astronomers pegged the ice giant's rotation period at 17 hours, 14 minutes ...
A stellar occultation occurs when a planet such as Uranus passes in front of, or occults, a distant star. Observations of special alignments of Uranus and a bright star like that on April 7, 2025 are used by scientists to study the temperature and density of the upper atmosphere of Uranus in detail, which is a key step toward preparing future ...
In January 1986, NASA’s Voyager 2 became the first, and so far the only, spacecraft to explore Uranus, the second to last stop on its journey through the outer solar system. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages Voyagers 1 and 2, twin spacecraft launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets. ...
The ice-giant planet Uranus, which travels around the Sun tipped on its side, is a weird and mysterious world. Now, in an unprecedented study spanning two decades, researchers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered new insights into the planet's atmospheric composition and dynamics. This was possible only because of Hubble’s sharp resolution, spectral capabilities, and longevity.
The planet Uranus, photographed by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986. The planet and its moons are expected to be the target of NASA’s next major mission to the outer solar system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. When NASA’s Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, it captured grainy photographs of large ice-covered moons.
Much of what we know about Uranus is taken from data gathered by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, which zipped past the ice giant in 1986. The probe's observations revealed the planet had a bizarrely ...
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons spacecraft simultaneously set their sights on Uranus recently, allowing scientists to make a direct comparison of the planet from two very different viewpoints. The results inform future plans to study like types of planets around other stars. Astronomers used Uranus as a proxy for similar planets beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets ...
An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have made new measurements of Uranus' interior rotation rate with a novel technique, achieving a level of accuracy 1000 times greater than previous estimates. By analysing more than a decade of Hubble observations of Uranus' aurorae, researchers have refined the planet’s rotation period and established a crucial ...
Pale blue Uranus as Voyager 2 saw it in 1986. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft ever to have glimpsed Uranus up close. Image via NASA. March 13, 1781: A happy accident. The 7th planet – Uranus ...
Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986 and sent back stunning images of the planet and its moons. Learn about the unique features of Uranus, such as its tilted axis, magnetic field, rings and moons, and how Voyager 2 helped us understand them.