By Paul Scott Anderson, on May 20th, 2017
Two images of dwarf planet 2007 OR10 from Hubble, taken a year apart, showing the small moon. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/C. Kiss (Konkoly Observatory)/J. Stansberry (STScI)
Moons are exceedingly common in the Solar System – Jupiter alone has 67! But smaller planets do as well of course, except for Mercury and Venus, and even […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on April 5th, 2017
New Horizons is now halfway from Pluto to its next destination – the KBO known as 2014 MU69, which it will reach on Jan. 1, 2019 (artist’s conception). Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
It may not seem like it, but it is approaching two years now since New Horizons made its historic flyby of Pluto […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on February 2nd, 2017
Artist’s conception of New Horizons approaching 2014 MU69 in 2019. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI/Steve Gribben
Long after its incredible encounter with Pluto and its moons in 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft is continuing its journey deeper into the Kuiper Belt in the outer reaches of the Solar System. Mission scientists and engineers are now […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on December 28th, 2016
Charon (upper left) and Pluto as seen by New Horizons on July 14, 2015. Photo Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Charon is Pluto’s largest moon and, despite being so cold and remote from the Sun, has been revealed to be a fascinating and active world, just like Pluto itself. Residing in the far outskirts of the […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on November 22nd, 2016
View of Sputnik Planitia on Pluto. This vast region of nitrogen ice provides clues that a subsurface ocean of liquid water exists on Pluto. Photo Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
Pluto, a tiny frigid world in the distant outskirts of the Solar System, has been full of surprises, as first revealed by the New Horizons spacecraft […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on October 28th, 2016
Artist’s depiction of data being sent by New Horizons back to Earth. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
To say that the New Horizons mission has been a success would be a massive understatement; this first-ever spacecraft to visit Pluto has revolutionized our understanding of this distant, small world. Pluto and its moons are complex and […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on September 16th, 2016
For the first time, x-rays have been detected around Pluto, as seen by Chandra (inset image). Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Chandra X-Ray Center
It has been 14 months since the New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto and its moons, but data still continues to come in, and new […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on August 17th, 2016
The newly discovered object called Niku is a real oddity (artist’s conception). It is also part of a group of many such objects far past Neptune in the outer Solar System. Image Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/Nick Risinger
For the most part, the Solar System seems to be a rather well-ordered place; the planets, dwarf […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on May 19th, 2016
Image from New Horizons showing the small KBO called 1994 JR1, taken in April 2016. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
The New Horizons mission to Pluto has been nothing less than incredible, giving us our first close-up views of this enigmatic dwarf planet and its moons. But the show isn’t over yet, as the New […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on April 18th, 2016
If approved by NASA, the KEM proposal will allow New Horizons to continue its study of the outer fringes of the Solar System until 2021, including a flyby of 2014 MU69. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
The New Horizons mission has revolutionized our understanding of Pluto and its moons, after conducting the first-ever flyby last […]
Like this:Like Loading...
|
|