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Mysterious rings around Uranus indicate hidden moons orbiting the ice giant

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Two grayscale images tiled showing a ring around a bright sphere on a grainy monochrome background

New observations of Uranus’ mysterious outer rings show they are even more mysterious than astronomers thought, and their unusual properties hint at some mysterious events occurring in the planet’s satellite system. These observations suggest that small, mysterious moons with surprisingly different properties are the source of the particles that make up the two outermost rings, … Read more

Deep-sea diving robot helps solve mystery of Antarctica’s disappearing sea ice

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A researcher's ship floating in the ice-covered waters of Antarctica

Something strange is swirling in the waters around Antarctica. From the 1970s until 10 years ago, ice floes radiating from the continent continued to expand, even though climate change was already in full swing. Then in 2016, as rising global temperatures appeared to catch up with Antarctica, it suddenly shrunk dramatically, but it has yet … Read more