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By NASA
2 Min Read June’s Night Sky Notes: Seasons of the Solar System
Two views of the planet Uranus appear side-by-side for comparison. At the top, left corner of the left image is a two-line label. The top line reads Uranus November 9, 2014. The bottoms line reads HST WFC3/UVIS. At the top, left corner of the right image is the label November 9, 2022. At the left, bottom corner of each image is a small, horizontal, white line. In both panels, over this line is the value 25,400 miles. Below the line is the value 40,800 kilometers. At the top, right corner of the right image are three, colored labels representing the color filters used to make these pictures. Located on three separate lines, these are F467M in blue, F547M in green, and F485M in red. On the bottom, right corner of the right image are compass arrows showing north toward the top and east toward the left. Credits:
NASA by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Here on Earth, we undergo a changing of seasons every three months. But what about the rest of the Solar System? What does a sunny day on Mars look like? How long would a winter on Neptune be? Let’s take a tour of some other planets and ask ourselves what seasons might look like there.
Martian Autumn
Although Mars and Earth have nearly identical axial tilts, a year on Mars lasts 687 Earth days (nearly 2 Earth years) due to its average distance of 142 million miles from the Sun, making it late autumn on the red planet. This distance and a thin atmosphere make it less than perfect sweater weather. A recent weather report from Gale Crater boasted a high of -18 degrees Fahrenheit for the week of May 20, 2025.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Seven Years of Summer
Saturn has a 27-degree tilt, very similar to the 25-degree tilt of Mars and the 23-degree tilt of Earth. But that is where the similarities end. With a 29-year orbit, a single season on the ringed planet lasts seven years. While we can’t experience a Saturnian season, we can observe a ring plane crossing here on Earth instead. The most recent plane crossing took place in March 2025, allowing us to see Saturn’s rings ‘disappear’ from view.
A Lifetime of Spring
NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations in August 2002 show that Neptune’s brightness has increased significantly since 1996. The rise is due to an increase in the amount of clouds observed in the planet’s southern hemisphere. These increases may be due to seasonal changes caused by a variation in solar heating. Because Neptune’s rotation axis is inclined 29 degrees to its orbital plane, it is subject to seasonal solar heating during its 164.8-year orbit of the Sun. This seasonal variation is 900 times smaller than experienced by Earth because Neptune is much farther from the Sun. The rate of seasonal change also is much slower because Neptune takes 165 years to orbit the Sun. So, springtime in the southern hemisphere will last for several decades! Remarkably, this is evidence that Neptune is responding to the weak radiation from the Sun. These images were taken in visible and near-infrared light by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Credit: NASA, L. Sromovsky, and P. Fry (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Even further away from the Sun, each season on Neptune lasts over 40 years. Although changes are slower and less dramatic than on Earth, scientists have observed seasonal activity in Neptune’s atmosphere. These images were taken between 1996 and 2002 with the Hubble Space Telescope, with brightness in the southern hemisphere indicating seasonal change.
As we welcome summer here on Earth, you can build a Suntrack model that helps demonstrate the path the Sun takes through the sky during the seasons. You can find even more fun activities and resources like this model on NASA’s Wavelength and Energy activity.
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Artist concept highlighting the novel approach proposed by the 2025 NIAC awarded selection of Gravity Poppers: Hopping Probes for the Interior Mapping of Small Solar System Bodies concept.NASA/Benjamin Hockman Benjamin Hockman
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The goal of this effort is to develop a robust and affordable mission architecture that enables the gravimetric density reconstruction of small body interiors to unprecedented precision. Our architecture relies on the novel concept of “Gravity Poppers,” which are small, minimalistic probes that are deployed to the surface of a small body and periodically “pop” so as to perpetuate a random hopping motion around the body. By tracking a large swarm of poppers from orbit, a mother spacecraft can precisely estimate their trajectories and continuously refine a high-resolution map of the body’s gravity field, and thus, its internal mass distribution. Hopping probes are also equipped with minimalistic in-situ sensors to measure the surface temperature (when landed) and strength (when bouncing) in order to complement the gravity field and build a more accurate picture of the interior. The Phase I study focused on feasibility assessment of three core technologies that enable such a mission: (1) the mechanical design of hopping probes to be small, simple, robust, and “visible” to a distant spacecraft, (2) the tracking strategy for detecting and estimating the trajectories of a large number of ballistic probes, and (3) the algorithmic framework by which such measurements can be used to iteratively refine a gravity model of the body. The key finding was that the concept is feasible, and demonstrated to have the potential to resolve extremely accurate gravity models, allowing scientists to localize density anomalies such as “weighing” large boulders on the surface. This Phase II Proposal aims to further develop these three core technologies through continued mission trade studies and sensitivity analysis, case studies for simulated missions, and hardware prototypes demonstrating both hopping behavior and tracking performance.
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By NASA
Explore Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Webb’s Blog Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System
For the first time, researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The full artist’s concept illustration and full caption is shown below. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system.
Now there is definitive evidence: Researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star 155 light-years away using detailed data known as spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. (The term water ice specifies its makeup, since many other frozen molecules are also observed in space, such as carbon dioxide ice, or “dry ice.”) In 2008, data from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope hinted at the possibility of frozen water in this system.
“Webb unambiguously detected not just water ice, but crystalline water ice, which is also found in locations like Saturn’s rings and icy bodies in our solar system’s Kuiper Belt,” said Chen Xie, the lead author of the new paper and an assistant research scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
All the frozen water Webb detected is paired with fine dust particles throughout the disk — like itsy-bitsy “dirty snowballs.” The results published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Astronomers have been waiting for this definitive data for decades. “When I was a graduate student 25 years ago, my advisor told me there should be ice in debris disks, but prior to Webb, we didn’t have instruments sensitive enough to make these observations,” said Christine Chen, a co-author and associate astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. “What’s most striking is that this data looks similar to the telescope’s other recent observations of Kuiper Belt objects in our own solar system.”
Water ice is a vital ingredient in disks around young stars — it heavily influences the formation of giant planets and may also be delivered by small bodies like comets and asteroids to fully formed rocky planets. Now that researchers have detected water ice with Webb, they have opened the door for all researchers to study how these processes play out in new ways in many other planetary systems.
Image: Debris Disk Around Star HD 181327 (Artist’s Concept)
For the first time, researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. All the frozen water detected by Webb is paired with fine dust particles throughout the disk. The majority of the water ice observed is found where it’s coldest and farthest from the star. The closer to the star the researchers looked, the less water ice they found. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) Rocks, Dust, Ice Rushing Around
The star, cataloged HD 181327, is significantly younger than our Sun. It’s estimated to be 23 million years old, compared to the Sun’s more mature 4.6 billion years. The star is slightly more massive than the Sun, and it’s hotter, which led to the formation of a slightly larger system around it.
Webb’s observations confirm a significant gap between the star and its debris disk — a wide area that is free of dust. Farther out, its debris disk is similar to our solar system’s Kuiper Belt, where dwarf planets, comets, and other bits of ice and rock are found (and sometimes collide with one another). Billions of years ago, our Kuiper Belt was likely similar to this star’s debris disk.
“HD 181327 is a very active system,” Chen said. “There are regular, ongoing collisions in its debris disk. When those icy bodies collide, they release tiny particles of dusty water ice that are perfectly sized for Webb to detect.”
Frozen Water — Almost Everywhere
Water ice isn’t spread evenly throughout this system. The majority is found where it’s coldest and farthest from the star. “The outer area of the debris disk consists of over 20% water ice,” Xie said.
The closer in the researchers looked, the less water ice they found. Toward the middle of the debris disk, Webb detected about 8% water ice. Here, it’s likely that frozen water particles are produced slightly faster than they are destroyed. In the area of the debris disk closest to the star, Webb detected almost none. It’s likely that the star’s ultraviolet light vaporizes the closest specks of water ice. It’s also possible that rocks known as planetesimals have “locked up” frozen water in their interiors, which Webb can’t detect.
This team and many more researchers will continue to search for — and study — water ice in debris disks and actively forming planetary systems throughout our Milky Way galaxy. “The presence of water ice helps facilitate planet formation,” Xie said. “Icy materials may also ultimately be ‘delivered’ to terrestrial planets that may form over a couple hundred million years in systems like this.”
The researchers observed HD 181327 with Webb’s NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph), which is super-sensitive to extremely faint dust particles that can only be detected from space.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/webb
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Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Claire Blome – cblome@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
Christine Pulliam – cpulliam@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
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By NASA
Dave Gallagher will become the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Sunday, June 1. NASA/JPL-Caltech Laurie Leshin has decided to step down as director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Sunday, June 1. David Gallagher, who has been serving as the Lab’s associate director for Strategic Integration, has been selected by Caltech to lead the federally funded research and development center. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
A distinguished geochemist, Leshin was named by Caltech to lead the lab in early 2022. Her career has spanned academia and senior positions at NASA. Several NASA missions managed by JPL have launched under her leadership, including EMIT, SWOT, Psyche, PREFIRE, Europa Clipper, and SPHEREx, with the NASA-Indian Earth satellite NISAR set for a June launch. In addition, JPL has advanced the development of NASA’s asteroid-hunting NEO Surveyor mission as well as the trio of CADRE lunar rovers, and it delivered the Coronagraph Instrument, a technology demonstration with NASA’s forthcoming Roman Space Telescope.
“I am proud of the many things JPL has accomplished over the past three years,” said Leshin. “In addition to the long list of missions that have launched or moved toward launch during that time, we saved Voyager more than once and flew into history on Mars with Ingenuity. We have made more amazing scientific discoveries than I can name, including finding potential ancient Martian biomarkers with Perseverance. And we’ve driven the forefront of technology on Earth and in space. I know those achievements will continue under Dave’s capable leadership.”
Leshin, who has also served as Caltech vice president, is stepping down for personal reasons and will remain a Bren Professor of Geochemistry and Planetary Science at Caltech.
“While we respect Laurie’s decision to step away from her leadership position at JPL, we will miss her drive, compassion, and dedication,” Caltech President Thomas Rosenbaum said. “At the same time, we are grateful to Dave Gallagher for his devotion to JPL and his continuing leadership and partnership going forward. Dave’s experience working across multiple government and private sector entities will help secure ongoing support for America’s agenda in space, with JPL continuing to play an essential role.”
Gallagher will draw on his deep experience at JPL to lead the lab into the future. He arrived at JPL 36 years ago, in 1989, and went on to hold numerous leadership positions. Along with having served as the director and deputy director for Astronomy, Physics, and Space Technology, he was manager of JPL’s Advanced Optical Systems Program Office. An electrical engineer, Gallagher also managed the Spitzer Space Telescope and, among other roles, led the team that built and tested the Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 (WF/PC-2) — a critical instrument that corrected the spherical aberration on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
“Laurie has made a significant impact on energizing and focusing the lab, guiding it back on track after the Covid-19 pandemic. I wish her great success in this next chapter of her career, and I look forward to a very smooth transition at the lab,” said Gallagher. “We have exciting opportunities ahead helping to advance our nation’s space agenda and a fantastic team to help realize them.”
Founded by Caltech faculty and students in 1936, JPL has been managed by Caltech on behalf of NASA since 1958.
News Media Contacts
Matthew Segal / Veronica McGregor
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-8307 / 818-354-9452
matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov / veronica.c.mcgregor@jpl.nasa.gov
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By Space Force
The two-week event, held at Vandenberg Space Force Base, focuses on strengthening international partnerships, enhancing operational collaboration and promoting responsible behavior in space.
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