Tagged: Pluto

Picture of Pluto further refined by months of New Horizons data - Guest Work

Guest Author • Mar 19, 2016 •

• astronomy,
• New Horizons,
• Pluto

Mike Summers, George Mason University When the New Horizons spacecraft made its flyby of Pluto on July 14, 2015, there was worldwide celebration that we’d finally gotten our first detailed look at this completely new type of planet in the outer reaches of our solar system. But for those of us on the New Horizons … Read More

Past claims about new planets were wrong – why ‘Planet Nine’ may be different - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jan 26, 2016 •

• astronomy,
• Planet Nine,
• Planet X,
• Pluto,
• solar system

Andrew Coates, UCL There’s a real buzz among planetary scientists after a new study suggested that an unseen planet, dubbed ‘Planet Nine’, of about ten times the Earth’s mass could be lurking in the Kuiper belt, a band of icy objects beyond Neptune. The latest theory was put forward after scientists noticed that six objects in … Read More

Somewhere out there could be a giant new planet in our solar system: so where is it? - Guest Work

Guest Author • Jan 22, 2016 •

• Ninth planet,
• Planet Nine,
• Pluto,
• solar system

Tanya Hill, Museum Victoria and Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland There’s plenty of excitement at the announcement overnight that a new planet is potentially waiting to be found at the extremes of our solar system. The possible ninth planet is thought to be quite substantial with a mass around ten times that of Earth … Read More

What would you ask a scientist?! - Infectious Thoughts

Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 27, 2015 •

• Ask a Scientist,
• brains,
• children,
• clouds,
• Magnets,
• planets,
• Pluto,
• primary school,
• Saturn

In preparation for Queenstown Research Week, Auckland University’s Prof Peter Shepherd asked primary school kids what questions they would ask a scientist. One class at Shotover Primary School sent us this list: Edit: A group of 10-11 year olds from Wakatipu High have added to the list (Q29-48) How does the sky stay up? How does … Read More

Pluto and Charon Up Close - Honest Universe

Mark Hanna • Jul 16, 2015 •

• Astronomy,
• Charon,
• NASA,
• New Horizons,
• Pluto

I was born in June 1989. Just 2 months after that, the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Neptune on its way out of our solar system and for the first time ever we saw real close up pictures of the solar system’s outermost giant planet. Of course, I was too young to remember this, but […] … Read More

Rings around Uranus - Open Parachute

Ken Perrott • Sep 22, 2011 •

• astronomy,
• Hawaii,
• Miranda,
• planet,
• Pluto,
• Sciblogs,
• solar system,
• Uranus,
• W. M. Keck Observatory

We don’t often get to see images of Uranus – and certainly none like this. The astronomer Mike Brown took the photo a few days ago using one of the 10-meter twin telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in … Continue reading → … Read More