Pluto
New Horizons is Now 50 Astronomical Units Away From the Sun
As the New Horizons spacecraft hurtles out towards interstellar space, it has now reached an historical milestone. On April 17,…
Pluto has Snowcapped Mountains, But Why?
We can thank NASA's New Horizons spacecraft for opening our eyes up to Pluto's complexity. On July 14th, 2015, the…
Pluto and Other Kuiper Belt Objects Started Out With Water Oceans, and Have Been Slowly Freezing Solid for Billions of Years
It seems unlikely that an ocean could persist on a world that never gets closer than 30 astronomical units from…
Astronomers Continue to Analyze Pluto’s Atmosphere
When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto, studying the atmosphere was a key scientific objective. Most of what we…
There Are Winds Blowing On Pluto, Driven by Frozen Nitrogen
Earth and Pluto don't have much in common. Earth is a vibrant, living world, whereas Pluto is cold, distant and…
NASA is Now Considering a Pluto Orbiter Mission
NASA's New Horizons mission taught us a lot about Pluto, the ice dwarf planet. But the spacecraft sped past Pluto…
New Horizons Team Pieces Together the Best Images They Have of Pluto’s Far Side
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. For decades, not much detail was known about the erstwhile planet.…
A Bunch of New Names for Pluto’s Surface Features Were Just Approved
Pluto is getting some new names. In the past, prior to the New Horizons mission, there wasn't much to name.…
An Insulating Layer of Gas Could Keep a Liquid Ocean Inside Pluto
A new study led by Japanese researchers indicates that Pluto could have a subsurface ocean, provided there is an "insulating…
Pluto and Charon Don’t Have Enough Small Craters
The New Horizons team just shared new findings about the lack of small craters on Pluto and Charon's surface, which…