Pluto
-
There could be thousands of dwarf planets – Pluto-sized or smaller – lurking at the very edges of the Sun’s influence. Now, astronomers have spotted a new distant dwarf with an incredibly wide orbit, lending further evidence to the idea that a much bigger “Planet X” is out there somewhere.
-
Pluto was demoted from planet status to dwarf planet in 2006. But a new study suggests it should be resurrected as a planet, since the definition the object failed to meet was not based on precedents set in scientific literature.
-
Mission control rejoiced when NASA’s New Horizons probe zipped past Pluto in 2015 following a nine-year voyage, but in some ways it was just getting started. After gathering data on the dwarf planet, the plucky spacecraft’s imager has now made its first detection of its next flyby target.
-
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has successfully awoken from a planned 165-day hibernation period ahead of its historic flyby of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, which is set to take place on New Year’s Day 2019.
-
New analysis of images collected by the space probe of the dwarf planet's surface has confirmed the presence of dunes. Despite being an unlikely characteristic of an icy world with little wind, scientists also believe they have an explanation of how they formed.
-
Almost three years after NASA's New Horizons deep space probe made its historic flyby of Pluto, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has released the first list of official names for features on the face of the dwarf planet's largest moon, Charon.
-
You might have a pretty clear mental picture of what a planet is, but the official definition is surprisingly contentious. Now, an astrophysicist from Johns Hopkins University has proposed a revision to the definition of a planet, to help differentiate gas giants from brown dwarfs.
-
Google Maps is both amazing and a little terrifying at times. Not content to just map out almost every corner of the Earth, Google has now added the ability to explore 12 other worlds in our little corner of the galaxy.
-
Global Aerospace Corporation's "Pluto Hop, Skip and Jump" mission concept that will be presented on Monday would not only land on the dwarf planet, but autonomously hop hundreds of kilometers from one spot to another as it explores its frozen surface.
-
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has officially named 14 features on Pluto's surface. The various mountains, ridges and valleys have all been given titles that honor influential astronomers and spacecraft, or continue the underworld theme that began with Pluto’s naming in 1930.
-
NASA has just released two spectacular flyover videos, of Pluto and its largest moon Charon, created from the New Horizons data offering us the most intimate look yet at our distant icy friends.
-
According to a team of researchers at Georgia Tech, Pluto's largest moon, Charon, acts as a sort of intermittent shield protecting Pluto's atmosphere from the solar wind.
Load More