The lower atmosphere of Pluto revealed
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have gained valuable new insights about the atmosphere of the dwarf planet Pluto. The scientists found unexpectedly large amounts of methane in the atmosphere, and also discovered that the atmosphere is hotter than the surface by about 40 degrees, although it still only reaches a frigid minus 180... view more... (2009-03-03)
It's our solar system Jim, but not as we know it
There are many more objects orbiting our sun than we once thought, and a new book from Cambridge University Press sets out to tell the story of their discovery. Beyond Pluto: Exploring the Outer Limits of the Solar System by John Davies traces the history of the search for objects at the periphery of the solar system. It is a tale of incredible... view more... (2001-07-25)
New Planet Is Larger than Pluto
Claims that the Solar System has a tenth planet are bolstered by the finding by a group lead by Bonn astrophysicists that this alleged planet, announced last summer and tentatively named 2003 UB313, is bigger than Pluto. view more (2006-02-02)
Plutoid chosen as name for Solar System objects like Pluto
Almost two years after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly introduced the category of dwarf planets, the IAU, as promised, has decided on a name for transneptunian dwarf planets similar to Pluto. view more (2008-06-12)
Researchers Describe Discovery of Pluto's New Moons
In the Feb. 23 issue of the journal Nature, a team led by Dr. Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., describes its discovery of two new moons around Pluto - a finding that made the ninth planet the first Kuiper Belt object known to have multiple satellites. view more (2006-02-23)
Pluto-Bound New Horizons Spacecraft Gets a Boost from Jupiter
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft successfully completed a flyby of Jupiter early this morning, using the massive planet's gravity to pick up speed on its 3-billion mile voyage to Pluto and the unexplored Kuiper Belt region beyond. view more (2007-03-01)
University of Colorado student-built instrument set to launch on Pluto mission
The University of Colorado at Boulder's long heritage with NASA planetary missions will continue Jan. 17 with the launch of a student space dust instrument on the New Horizons Mission to Pluto from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. view more (2005-12-29)
Discovery of a new planet in the outer solar system
A team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, Yale University in New Haven, CT, and Gemini Observatory in Hilo, HI, report the discovery of a new planet in the outer solar system. view more (2005-08-02)
New capture scenario explains origin of Neptune's oddball moon Triton
Neptune's large moon Triton may have abandoned an earlier partner to arrive in its unusual orbit around Neptune. view more (2006-05-11)
Discovery of a satellite around the transneptunian object 1998 WW31
Alain Doressoundiram (Observatoire de Paris) and Christian Veillet (CFH Institute) have just discovered that the transneptunian object 1998 WW31 is in fact a double object. It is during their multi-color photometry and recovery of transneptunian objects program that they made this discovery. This program is carried out on the Canada-France-Hawaii... view more... (2001-05-03)
Double Planet Meets Triple Star
High-Resolution VLT Image of Pluto Event on July 20, 2002 A rare celestial phenomenon involving the distant planet Pluto has occurred twice within the past month. Seen from the Earth, this planet moved in front of two different stars on July 20 and August 21, respectively, providing observers at various observatories in South America and in the... view more... (2002-08-28)
The Last Cry Of Matter
'Black holes' are truly black. When an object gets within a certain distance from a black hole, it will get swallowed forever with no chance to escape. That includes light, which means that black holes do not shine. How do astronomers detect black holes if they are unable to see them? Well, to be precise, astronomers do not detect black holes.... view more... (2003-11-27)
The IAU draft definition of 'planet' and 'plutons'
The world's astronomers, under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), have concluded two years of work defining the difference between "planets" and the smaller "solar system bodies" such as comets and asteroids. view more (2006-08-16)
Sign of 'Embryonic Planets' Forming in Nearby Stellar Systems
Astronomers at the University of Rochester are pointing to three nearby stars they say may hold "embryonic planets"-a missing link in planet-formation theories. view more (2007-10-02)
Pluto-Bound New Horizons Sees Changes in Jupiter System
The voyage of NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft through the Jupiter system earlier this year provided a bird's-eye view of a dynamic planet that has changed since the last close-up looks by NASA spacecraft. view more (2007-10-10)
Radio telescope images reveal planet-forming disk orbiting twin suns
Astronomers are announcing today that a sequence of images collected with the Smithsonian's Submillimeter Array (SMA) clearly reveals the presence of a rotating molecular disk orbiting the young binary star system V4046 Sagittarii. view more (2009-06-11)
MIT-Williams team catches rare light show
In a feat of astronomical and terrestrial alignment, a group of scientists from MIT (Cambridge, Mass.) and Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.) recently succeeded in observing distant Pluto's tiny moon, Charon, hide a star. view more (2005-07-21)
Chandra examines Jupiter during new horizons approach
On February 28, 2007, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Jupiter on its ultimate journey to Pluto. This flyby gave scientists a unique opportunity to study Jupiter using the package of instruments available on New Horizons, while coordinating observations from both space- and ground-based telescopes including NASA's... view more... (2007-03-02)
Charon: An Ice Machine in the Ultimate Deep Freeze
Frigid geysers spewing material up through cracks in the crust of Pluto's companion Charon and recoating parts of its surface in ice crystals could be making this distant world into the equivalent of an outer solar system ice machine. view more (2007-07-19)
First extrasolar planets, now extrasolar moons
ESA is now planning a mission that can detect moons around planets outside our Solar System, those orbiting other stars! Everyone knows our Moon: lovers stare at it, wolves howl at it, and ESA recently sent SMART-1 to study it. But there are over a hundred other moons in our Solar System, each a world in its own right. A moon is a natural body... view more... (2003-10-09)
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