NASA is asking amateur astronomers for help in observing Uranus and Neptune next month as the agency prepares to capture new color images of the ice giants.
August 18, 2023, 2:27 PMNext month, NASA will be observing the two planets via its New Horizons spacecraft, originally designed to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, a disc of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune and often a source of comets.
Working with the Hubble Space Telescope, New Horizons plans to capture images of Uranus and Neptune in color. Because the spacecraft has passed the orbit of both planets, the images will be taken from "behind," which should provide some data regarding the atmosphere on both planets.Even though NASA is working with some of the most advanced tools in the world, the agency says having multiple instruments aimed at Uranus and Neptune could help "augment" the mission.
"By combining the information New Horizons collects in space with data from telescopes on Earth, we can supplement and even strengthen our models to uncover the mysteries swirling in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune," said Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission, in a"Even from amateur astronomer telescopes as small as 16 inches, these complementary observations can be extremely important," the statement continued.
Amateur observers are being asked to share their images, as well as the details they identified, on Facebook or X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, with the #NHIceGiants. The images are important, especially because only one spacecraft has ever visited Uranus and Neptune.
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