NASA's New Horizons will investigate Uranus from the rear (Neptune, too). Here's how you can help

By Keith Cooper published about 12 hours ago

By taking part, you could help solve the mystery of Uranus' missing heat.



Rendering of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which visited Pluto in 2015, is embarking on an observing campaign of the ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune – and scientists need your help.

Although New Horizons is now far beyond both Uranus and Neptune, throughout September it will be turning its Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) back to look at both planets from a vantage point more than 5 billion miles from Earth. In doing so, it will be seeing these worlds from the opposite direction to how we see them from Earth.

To ensure wide coverage of the two planets from a variety of angles, New Horizons will be joined in this endeavor not only by the Hubble Space Telescope, but also by amateur astronomers all over the world who are being asked to contribute observations throughout the month.

Of all the planets in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune are the least understood. They've only been visited once before, by Voyager 2 in 1986 and 1989 respectively, and their sheer distances mean they can't be seen in great detail from Earth. So, there's still lots to learn about them, which is the incentive behind New Horizons' observing program.

More:
https://www.space.com/nasa-new-horizons-probe-uranus-neptune