Voyager 2 spacecraft tagged posts

Arriving at Uranus in 1986, Voyager 2 observed a bluish orb with extremely subtle features. A haze layer hid most of the planet’s cloud features from view. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Humanity has visited Uranus only once, 30 yrs ago. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft got its closest look at the distant, gaseous planet on Jan. 24, 1986. Voyager 2 sent back stunning images of the planet and its moons during a flyby of 5.5 hrs of close study. It got within 50,600 miles of Uranus, the coldest planet in our solar system, though not the farthest from the sun, It has no internal heat source. Atmosphere of Uranus is 85% hydrogen and 15% helium. There was also evidence of a boiling ocean ~500 miles below the cloud tops.

Scientists found that Uranus has a magnetic field different from any they had ever enco...