NASA’s only visit to Uranus happened during a rare cosmic occurrence [Video]

The answers to the biggest questions in space science — what happens inside a black hole, how does a galaxy form or what is dark matter — lie in the far reaches of the universe.However, there is still plenty that scientists don’t know about the solar system, our cosmic neighborhood.This week, researchers shared fascinating new findings on Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, and the far side of the moon.Other worldsWhat’s known about Uranus could be off the mark. An unusual cosmic occurrence during the Voyager 2 spacecraft’s 1986 flyby might have skewed how scientists characterized the ice giant, new research suggests.In particular, the spacecraft’s observations of Uranus’ protective magnetosphere were wildly different from astronomers’ expectations.The new study found that when Voyager 2 was taking its readings intense solar wind created conditions that happen 4% of the time, said Jamie Jasinski, a space plasma physicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion …