Comments

The roughly six-hour flyby in 1986 revealed Uranus' protective magnetic field was strangely empty. Now, researchers say that the data could have been affected by a solar wind event

1. Al bijna 40 jaar lang hebben we een vertekend beeld van de planeet Uranus, en dat door stom toeval  Het Belang van Limburg
2. Waarom wetenschappers al 40 jaar lang fout beeld hebben van planeet door stom toeval  Het Nieuwsblad
3. Voyager 2 onthult geheimen van het magnetische mysterie van Uranus  Business AM
4. Mysterie Uranus ontrafeld: al 40 jaar lang hebben we een verkeerd beeld van de planeet  De Morgen

A new analysis of data from NASA's Voyager 2 mission reveals that the planet Uranus and its five largest moons might harbor subsurface oceans and potential conditions for life. The BBC reports: Much of what we know about them was gathered by Nasa's Voyager 2 spacecraft which visited nearly 40 years ago. But a new analysis shows that Voyager's visit coincided with a powerful solar storm, which led to a misleading idea of what the Uranian system is really like. [...] So, for 40 years we have had an incorrect view of what Uranus and its five largest moons are normally like, according to Dr William Dunn of University College London. "These results suggest that the Uranian system could be much more exciting than previously thought. There could be moons there that could have the conditions that are necessary for life, they might have oceans below the surface that could be teeming with fish!". It has been nearly 40 years since Voyager 2 last flew past the icy world and its moons. Nasa has plans to launch a new mission, the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, to go back for a closer look in 10 years' time. According to Nasa's Dr Jamie Jasinski, whose idea it was to re-examine the Voyager 2 data, the mission will need to take his results into account when designing its instruments and planning the scientific survey. "Some of the instruments for the future spacecraft are very much being designed with ideas from what we learned from Voyager 2 when it flew past the system when it was experiencing an abnormal event. So we need to rethink how exactly we are going to design the instruments on the new mission so that we can best capture the science we need to make discoveries." Nasa's Uranus probe is expected to arrive by 2045, which is when scientists hope to find out whether these far-flung icy moons, once thought of as being dead worlds, might have the possibility of being home to life. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

1. Long ago, Voyager 2 might have caught Uranus at a bad time  Space.com
2. The anomalous state of Uranus’s magnetosphere during the Voyager 2 flyby  Nature.com
3. Potential For Life Found On Uranus' Moons, Scientists Reveal  NDTV
4. New Uranus research suggests what’s known about the planet could be wrong  CNN
5. Uranus Might Have Experienced a Freak Event When Voyager 2 Visited  The New York Times

It's been a while since Uranus was probed up close, but old data is proving to be quite valuable in solving a few decades old oddities. The last spacecraft that flew by Uranus was NASA’s Voyager 2 in 1986. NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere, or the protective bubble of particles and magnetic

A sandwich inspired water filter and 19 ways of looking at consciousness.

A new analysis of Voyager 2 data reveals a fresh theory about Uranus's unique magnetosphere.

The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the sterile worlds scientists have long thought.

A recent analysis reveals that Voyager's encounter occurred during an intense solar storm, potentially skewing our perception of the Uranian system.

A new analysis of Voyager 2’s flyby of Uranus in 1986 reveals a unique magnetic anomaly caused by a rare solar wind event. Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech found that the solar wind’s impact on Uranus’s magnetosphere was a unique occurrence, influencing measurements of the planet’s magnetic field. The study also suggests that the planet’s outer moons lie within its magnetosphere, potentially aiding future probes in identifying subsurface oceans on these moons.

1. 9 Surprising Facts About Voyager 2’s Uranus Flyby  Moneycontrol
2. Potential For Life Found On Uranus' Moons, Scientists Reveal  NDTV
3. The anomalous state of Uranus’s magnetosphere during the Voyager 2 flyby  Nature.com
4. Voyager-2 visited Uranus in 1986. Something more happened when it arrived  India Today
5. Uranus and its moons may have ideal conditions for life—but Voyager 2 missed it due to one bad day  The Economic Times

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft detected an unexpected phenomenon in the environment around the planet Uranus in 1986. Years later, scientists found the cause.

Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, giving us our only up-close look at the planet – but unusual space weather just before the craft arrived has given us a misleading idea about the planet’s magnetic field

Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, giving us our only up-close look at the planet – but unusual space weather just before the craft arrived has given us a misleading idea about the planet’s magnetic field

When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, it provided scientists’ first close glimpse of this ice-giant planet.

The post Voyager 2’s Flyby of Uranus in 1986 was During Anomalous Solar Event, New Study Suggests appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Voyager 2 flew by Uranus in 1986, giving us our only up-close look at the planet – but unusual space weather just before the craft arrived has given us a misleading idea about the planet’s magnetic field

1. Voyager 2's Historic Flyby of Uranus Exposes Rare Magnetic Distortion  Gadgets 360
2. Potential For Life Found On Uranus' Moons, Scientists Reveal  NDTV
3. The anomalous state of Uranus’s magnetosphere during the Voyager 2 flyby  Nature.com
4. New Uranus research suggests what’s known about the planet could be wrong  CNN
5. Voyager-2 visited Uranus in 1986. Something more happened when it arrived  India Today

Much of what we know is based on Voyager 2’s flyby of Uranus in 1986, but now it seems the probe visited at a time of unusual conditions

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and sits on an axial plane tilted at a jaw-dropping 97.7-degree angle. And yes, Uranus does actually stink.

At a meeting in the UK experts from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland joined a global pool of researchers to discuss the ice giants.

NASA analyzing data from the Voyager 2's 1986 visit to Uranus and found the magnetic bubble surrounding the planet is allowing bits of its atmosphere to leak into space.

Models predict an ‘alloy' of H and O is a metallic fluid in the ice giants' interior