Tag: Pluto
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IAU and New Horizons science team make peace over the names on Pluto’s map
A composite image shows enhanced-color views of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left). Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI It’s taken a year and a half, but the International Astronomical Union and the science team behind NASA’s New Horizons mission have finally struck a deal for naming the features on Pluto and its moons.…
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New Horizons to continue mission of discovery with Kuiper Belt encounter
Artist’s impression of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Kuiper Belt object. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI/Alex Parker Scientists planning the the next phase of NASA’s New Horizons mission, a robotic craft that completed the first exploration of Pluto in 2015, are going into the flyby of a frozen, faraway city-sized clump of rock on New Year’s Day…
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YIR IV: New Horizons returns all data of Pluto, a small world with big surprises
It was the dominant event in spaceflight last year: New Horizons’ rapid-paced, intense scientific investigation of the icy, dwarf planet Pluto – the mysterious little world that once bounded the planets of our solar system. This year, New Horizons completed its transmission of all the data it gathered during the Pluto encounter, information that has revealed…
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Study shows Pluto should be counted among solar system’s ocean worlds
The expanse of Sputnik Planitia, the bright region visible in this image of Pluto, might cover an ocean of slushy water-ice. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI Scientists believe they can explain how an ocean of water is lurking beneath an ice sheet inside Pluto’s prominent heart-shaped region, an iconic frozen landscape discovered during the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby…
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How a shifting ocean caused Pluto to flip over – putting its ‘heart’ in the right place
Sputnik Planitia, the left lobe of Pluto’s “heart,” is thought to have formed as the result of a giant impact early in the dwarf planet’s history. This graphic shows how the icy world reoriented itself as the impact basin filled with volatile ices. (Credit: James Keane / University of Arizona) Pluto’s famous heart-shaped feature may…
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New Horizons probe finishes transmitting data from Pluto flyby after 15 months
An artist’s conception shows the New Horizons spacecraft beaming data back to Earth. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) More than 15 months after NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto, the last bit of data captured during the flyby has finally been transmitted back to Earth. NASA said the final transmission was a digital segment…
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How deep does Pluto’s ocean go? Would you believe nine times deeper than Earth’s?
The left side of Pluto’s bright “heart” is known informally as Sputnik Planum. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) Scientists have been saying for months that Pluto could have a salty, sloshing ocean beneath its icy surface, but now they’ve worked out just how deep it could go. The answer? As deep as 60 miles,…
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How Pluto’s methane turned into red ‘spray paint’ on its biggest moon Charon
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution, enhanced color view of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. Scientists have learned that reddish material in the north (top) polar region – informally named Mordor Macula – is chemically processed methane that escaped from Pluto’s atmosphere onto Charon. (Credit: NASA /…
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One year after Pluto flyby, New Horizons mission looks back and looks ahead
A composite image shows enhanced-color views of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left). Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI One year ago today, NASA’s New Horizons probe whizzed past Pluto and opened up a new frontier for planetary science – and to mark the occasion, the mission team is looking back at its greatest hits and…
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NASA extends New Horizons mission to Kuiper Belt, tells Dawn to stay at Ceres
Artwork shows the New Horizons probe flying by a Kuiper Belt object known as 2014 MU69. (Credit: NASA) Almost a year after New Horizons’ unprecedented flyby of Pluto, NASA has given the official go-ahead for the probe to fly past another icy object in the Kuiper Belt in 2019. At the same time, the space agency…