Latest Jupiter Stories

Researchers report this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters that NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected oxygen on one of Saturn's moons. They said their finding increases the likelihood of finding the ingredients for life on one of the moons orbiting gas giants. The ice moon, Dione, has no liquid water and does not have the proper conditions to support life, Andrew Coates of the University College London said.  However, he said that it is possible that other moons of...

Particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 brought to Earth in 2006 by NASA's Stardust spacecraft indicate that Jupiter formed more than three million years after the formation of the first solids in our Solar System. The new finding helps test Solar System formation theories, which do not agree on the timing of Jupiter though it is certain the formation of this giant planet affected how materials moved, collided, and coalesced during the complex planet-forming process. Published in the February 1, 2012...

NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft successfully refined its flight path last Wednesday with the mission's first trajectory correction maneuver. The maneuver took place on Feb. 1. It is the first of a dozen planned rocket firings that, over the next five years, will keep Juno on course for its rendezvous with Jupiter. "We had a maneuver planned soon after launch but our Atlas V rocket gave us such a good ride we didn't need to make any trajectory changes," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project...

In order to reduce power consumption, mission managers have turned off a heater on part of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, dropping the temperature of its ultraviolet spectrometer instrument more than 23 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit). It is now operating at a temperature below minus 79 degrees Celsius (minus 110 degrees Fahrenheit), the coldest temperature that the instrument has ever endured. This heater shut-off is a step in the careful management of the diminishing electrical power...

Dr. Michael A. Gleiber, M.D., PA of Jupiter, FL has been ranked among the top physicians in the nation based on patient reviews. JUPITER, Fla., Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A select few physicians were honored with the prestigious 2011 Patients' Choice Award, and this year they include Dr. Michael A. Gleiber, M.D., PA. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120117/DC36945) Only doctors who have received top scores by their patients and pass other quality...

A team of astrophysicists from the University of Rochester and Europe has discovered a ring system in the constellation Centaurus that invites comparisons to Saturn. The scientists, led by Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Eric Mamajek of Rochester and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, used data from the international SuperWASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) and All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) project to study the light curves of young Sun-like stars in the...

In 1977, Jimmy Carter was sworn in as president, Elvis died, Virginia park ranger Roy Sullivan was hit by lightning a record seventh time, and two NASA space probes destined to turn planetary science on its head launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The identical spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were launched in the summer and programmed to pass by Jupiter and Saturn on different paths. Voyager 2 went on to visit Uranus and Neptune, completing the "Grand Tour of the Solar System," perhaps...

Discoveries of new planets just keep coming and coming. Take, for instance, the 18 recently found by a team of astronomers led by scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). "It's the largest single announcement of planets in orbit around stars more massive than the sun, aside from the discoveries made by the Kepler mission," says John Johnson, assistant professor of astronomy at Caltech and the first author on the team's paper, which was published in the December...

TAU researchers predict "sprites" in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus Only a few decades ago, scientists discovered the existence of "sprites" 30 to 55 miles above the surface of the Earth. They're offshoots of electric discharges caused by lightning storms, and a valuable window into the composition of our atmosphere. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University say that sprites are not a phenomenon specific to our planet. Jupiter and Saturn experience lightning storms with...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Data from a NASA planetary mission have provided scientists evidence of what appears to be a body of liquid water, equal in volume to the North American Great Lakes, beneath the icy surface of Jupiter's moon, Europa. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The data suggest there is significant exchange between Europa's icy shell and the ocean beneath. This information could bolster arguments that Europa's global...