Remember when New Horizons swept past Pluto in 2015? That was exciting! Who knew Pluto had a heart? Now scientists are proposing a new Pluto orbiter mission. It would gather details on Pluto’s heart and the rest of its youthful surface, its hazy bluish nitrogen atmosphere, and its system of 5 known moons. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-studies-plan-to-send-an-orbiter-to-pluto…
Tag: Kuiper belt
Update on the 2nd interstellar visitor
Astronomers in Poland have just published the 1st peer-reviewed paper on the 2nd interstellar visitor, now officially labeled as a comet, 2I/Borisov. Plus check out the new Hubble Space Telescope image of this object. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/2i-borisov-hubble-image-looks-like-a-comet…
How did Pluto become a dwarf planet?
It’s been 13 years since astronomers announced Pluto would no longer be considered a major planet in our solar system. When it happened, in 2006, the decision caused a shock wave around the world. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/pluto-dwarf-planet-august-24-2006…
IAU approves 2nd round of names for Pluto features
New Horizons provided what will be the only close-up images of Pluto many of us will see in our lifetimes. The new feature names from the International Astronomical Union recognize the mission’s forerunners in Earth and space mythology and history. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/iau-approves-new-pluto-feature-names-2019…
Dragonfly aims for Saturn’s moon Titan
Scheduled for launch in 2026, the Dragonfly mission will look for clues to the origins of life, and possibly even evidence of life itself, on Saturn’s alien yet remarkably Earth-like moon Titan. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/dragonfly-mission-saturn-moon-titan…
Today in 2015: New Horizons at Pluto
The small, fast-moving New Horizons spacecraft is likely to be the only Pluto mission in the lifetimes of many of us. It changed forever the way we on Earth perceive this outermost world and its moons. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/july-4-2015-new-horizons-at-pluto…
Giant planets and comets battle in planet-forming disk
A study of dust in the disk around the star HD 163296 suggests we’re glimpsing a gravitational interaction between giant planets and much-smaller objects, the future asteroids and comets of this newly forming solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/planets-comets-battle-disk-hd-163296…
Stolen comets and free-floating objects
What happens when young stars brush past each other? A lot, according to a new study suggesting our solar system contains comets stolen from another star 4.5 billion years ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/stolen-comets-and-free-floating-objects…
New evidence for Pluto’s subsurface ocean
Does Pluto have an ocean? That idea seems preposterous at first, but a new study adds to the growing evidence for a subsurface ocean on this distant dwarf planet … and explains how it stays liquid. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/pluto-subsurface-ocean-methane-gas-hydrate-layer…