The moon’s size and orbit point to it being the remnant of a collision with Neptune’s moon Proteus.
orbits & rotations
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Space Storms Affect the Satellite Superhighway
A powerful numerical model reveals how space weather disturbs magnetic field at geosynchronous orbit.
Posted inNews
Reversing Earth’s Spin Moves Deserts, Reshapes Ocean Currents
A climate model with reversed rotation of Earth helps climatologists and oceanographers understand why our planet is the way it is and reveals how different it could have been.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Variations in Earth’s Orbit Triggered the Ice Ages
Researchers pinpoint how Milankovitch cycles have driven ice growth and influenced the timing of glacial periods.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Explanation for “Meandering” Electrons Orbiting Earth
A new study proposes a simpler theory to explain a class of electrons zipping around Earth, propelled by magnetic explosions.
Posted inScience Updates
Earth's Wobbly Path Gives Clues to Its Core
Understanding the Earth Core and Nutation; Brussels, Belgium, 19–21 September 2016
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Mars Got Its Layered North Polar Cap
Orbital wobbling shaped the dome of ice and dust at the planet's north pole.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Earth's Carbon-Climate Feedbacks Varied in Past Warming Episodes
Records from drill holes in the eastern equatorial Pacific indicate that Earth's orbital eccentricity played an important role in controlling climate as the planet warmed.
Posted inNews
Juno Makes Closest Ever Orbit of Jupiter
NASA plans to release more pictures soon, including views of the planet's atmosphere and its north and south poles, all in unprecedented detail.
Posted inNews
Juno Spacecraft Nails Its Orbit Around Jupiter
The mission will spend 20 months collecting data on the planet's core, its magnetic field, and the composition of its atmosphere.