pluto

GeekWire Calendar Picks: Black Girls Code workshops, Pluto’s planetary debate, FFA’s Champion Awards, and more

by Nicole Tanner on March 29, 2019March 29, 2019 at 2:51 pmComment

— Black Girls CODE, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching girls of color ages 7-17 about computer programming and technology, is holding three pop-up robotics workshops in the Seattle area on… Read More

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What is a ‘planet’? Historical study revisits the debate over Pluto and other dwarfs

by Alan Boyle on September 8, 2018September 8, 2018 at 10:37 amComment

Twelve years after the International Astronomical Union voted in a definition of planethood that reclassified Pluto, the debate goes on. A newly published study uses the historical record to take… Read More

Planetary scientists suggest that Pluto was put together from a billion comets

by Alan Boyle on May 23, 2018May 23, 2018 at 6:42 pmComment

Did Pluto form like its closer-in brethren in the solar system, or is it the result of an agglomeration of comets from the edge of the solar system? A study… Read More

Pluto’s champion recounts first mission to icy world – and gears up for the next one

by Alan Boyle on April 30, 2018April 30, 2018 at 3:27 pmComment

It took nine years for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to get to Pluto, and laying the groundwork for that history-making space mission here on Earth took nearly twice as long.… Read More

Astronomers give their official blessing to the first batch of place names on Pluto

by Alan Boyle on September 7, 2017September 7, 2017 at 7:48 pmComment

Some of the best-known places on Pluto, including the heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio, have finally gone legit. But lots of other places, such as Cthulhu Regio, are still in the dark.… Read More

IAU and New Horizons science team make peace over the names on Pluto’s map

by Alan Boyle on February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 at 11:55 amComment

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… Read More

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How a shifting ocean caused Pluto to flip over – putting its ‘heart’ in the right place

by Alan Boyle on November 16, 2016June 26, 2017 at 4:53 pmComment

Pluto’s famous heart-shaped feature may well have migrated over the course of millions of years as the dwarf planet spun, and that would add to the evidence for a slushy… Read More

New Horizons probe finishes transmitting data from Pluto flyby after 15 months

by Alan Boyle on October 27, 2016October 28, 2016 at 11:40 pmComment

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… Read More

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How deep does Pluto’s ocean go? Would you believe nine times deeper than Earth’s?

by Alan Boyle on September 23, 2016November 30, 2017 at 11:18 am 3 Comments

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… Read More

How Pluto’s methane turned into red ‘spray paint’ on its biggest moon Charon

by Alan Boyle on September 14, 2016September 14, 2016 at 6:26 pm1 Comment

When NASA’s New Horizons probe sent back pictures of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, researchers were surprised to see a big red spot on its north pole. More than a year… Read More

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One year after Pluto flyby, New Horizons mission looks back and looks ahead

by Alan Boyle on July 14, 2016July 14, 2016 at 2:13 pm1 Comment

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… Read More

NASA extends New Horizons mission to Kuiper Belt, tells Dawn to stay at Ceres

by Alan Boyle on July 1, 2016July 1, 2016 at 2:45 pm1 Comment

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… Read More

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Pluto may still have an ocean under its ice

by Alan Boyle on June 22, 2016November 26, 2017 at 10:50 pmComment

Pluto is one of the coldest places in the solar system, but scientists say geological activity could still keep an ocean’s worth of water liquid beneath the dwarf planet’s surface.… Read More

New Horizons provides the best close-up of Pluto some of us might ever see

by Alan Boyle on May 27, 2016May 27, 2016 at 5:24 pm1 Comment

Almost a year after NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, the team behind the mission has put together a long mosaic strip that includes all of the highest-resolution images.… Read More

What’s new from New Horizons: Clean water ice on Pluto’s far-out moon, Hydra

by Alan Boyle on May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 at 2:03 pmComment

If you’re looking for a place to chip off an ice cube for a cool interplanetary drink, you can’t do much better than Hydra, Pluto’s outermost moon. Newly released readings… Read More

Ancient Pluto could have had rivers and lakes of liquid nitrogen, scientists say

by Alan Boyle on March 21, 2016March 21, 2016 at 11:26 pmComment

Rivers and lakes of liquid nitrogen may have splashed over Pluto’s surface hundreds of millions of years ago, and could do so again, due to shifts in the dwarf planet’s orbit… Read More

Clouds on Pluto? Pictures from NASA’s New Horizons probe spark discussion

by Alan Boyle on March 4, 2016March 4, 2016 at 1:02 pmComment

Even before NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, scientists thought they might see clouds in its thin atmosphere – and now a couple of pictures suggest they were spotted. One… Read More

Why methane snow covers Pluto’s peaks

by Alan Boyle on March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 at 6:39 pm1 Comment

The dark terrain informally known as Cthulhu Regio sweeps nearly halfway around Pluto’s equator, with light-colored peaks sticking up from the surrounding plains. What is that light-colored stuff? Apparently, it’s… Read More

Pluto’s polar canyons get their close-up

by Alan Boyle on February 26, 2016February 26, 2016 at 5:42 pmComment

The heart-shaped region along Pluto’s equator has been the darling of NASA’s New Horizons mission, but it’s the north polar region that gets the love in this week’s featured image.… Read More

New Horizons imagery backs up the claim that Charon, Pluto’s biggest moon, once had an ocean

by Alan Boyle on February 19, 2016February 19, 2016 at 11:05 amComment

Scientists say the patterns of ice in canyons on Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, look as if some the frozen water was once liquid. And that suggests Charon had a subsurface ocean in… Read More

Scientists dissect Pluto’s heart, for geology’s sake

by Alan Boyle on February 12, 2016February 12, 2016 at 3:22 pmComment

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the scientists behind NASA’s New Horizons mission are sharing a map that brings a different perspective to Pluto’s heart. The map shows clearly that the dwarf… Read More

Weird! New Horizons probe spots islands of water ice floating in nitrogen slush

by Alan Boyle on February 4, 2016February 5, 2016 at 9:41 amComment

There’s plenty of evidence that Pluto is a frozen water world, with mountains of ice that rise more than 10,000 feet in height, but here’s something even weirder: Huge chunks… Read More

NASA puts Pluto and its heart on a valentine

by Alan Boyle on February 3, 2016February 3, 2016 at 1:06 pm1 Comment

Say it with Pluto? After NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft spotted a heart-shaped region on Pluto, you had to know it was just a matter of time before the dwarf planet… Read More

Map reveals that there’s more water ice on Pluto

by Alan Boyle on January 28, 2016January 28, 2016 at 6:21 pmComment

A color-coded map from NASA’s New Horizons mission shows where Pluto’s frozen water is concentrated, just in case we need to fill up our tanks on the way to Alpha Centauri… Read More

‘Planet Nine’? Astronomers boost the case for a large, unseen Planet X

by Alan Boyle on January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 at 2:41 pm 2 Comments

For decades, astronomers have gone back and forth over whether a “Planet X” exists on the edge of our solar system – and now two researchers have laid out new evidence… Read More

New Horizons team shares new X-Files from Pluto

by Alan Boyle on January 8, 2016January 8, 2016 at 4:42 pm 3 Comments

If “X-Files” are defined as data about weird and alien phenomena, NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto has X-Files galore. And this week, the mission’s science team shared an X-File with an… Read More

Postal Service geeks out with space stamps for Pluto, planets, the moon and Star Trek

by Alan Boyle on December 30, 2015December 30, 2015 at 9:10 pm 2 Comments

For the first time since 1991, Pluto and the solar system’s eight bigger planets are getting their own postage stamps – thanks to a U.S. Postal Service cosmopalooza that also… Read More

New Horizons probe sends more amazing pics of Pluto and a tiny moon called Nix

by Alan Boyle on December 18, 2015December 18, 2015 at 4:09 pmComment

The hits just keep on coming from NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto: This week’s stunners include views of the surface that look weirder than the terrain in “Star Wars: The… Read More

NASA’s New Horizons mission colorizes Pluto’s close-up – and zooms in on its pits

by Alan Boyle on December 11, 2015December 11, 2015 at 11:49 amComment

The Pluto pictures from NASA’s New Horizons probe just keep getting better and better: Feast your eyes on this colorized view of the border between the towering al-Idrisi mountains made… Read More

NASA’s New Horizons probe sends its closest close-up of Pluto

by Alan Boyle on December 5, 2015December 5, 2015 at 10:24 amComment

If you heart Pluto, you’ll love the sharpest, closest close-up of the dwarf planet, just sent back by NASA’s New Horizons probe. The images, captured from a distance of 10,000 miles… Read More

What is a ‘planet’? Historical study revisits the debate over Pluto and other dwarfs

Planetary scientists suggest that Pluto was put together from a billion comets

Pluto’s champion recounts first mission to icy world – and gears up for the next one

Astronomers give their official blessing to the first batch of place names on Pluto

IAU and New Horizons science team make peace over the names on Pluto’s map

How a shifting ocean caused Pluto to flip over – putting its ‘heart’ in the right place

New Horizons probe finishes transmitting data from Pluto flyby after 15 months

How deep does Pluto’s ocean go? Would you believe nine times deeper than Earth’s?

How Pluto’s methane turned into red ‘spray paint’ on its biggest moon Charon

One year after Pluto flyby, New Horizons mission looks back and looks ahead

NASA extends New Horizons mission to Kuiper Belt, tells Dawn to stay at Ceres

Pluto may still have an ocean under its ice

New Horizons provides the best close-up of Pluto some of us might ever see

What’s new from New Horizons: Clean water ice on Pluto’s far-out moon, Hydra

Ancient Pluto could have had rivers and lakes of liquid nitrogen, scientists say

Clouds on Pluto? Pictures from NASA’s New Horizons probe spark discussion

Why methane snow covers Pluto’s peaks

Pluto’s polar canyons get their close-up

New Horizons imagery backs up the claim that Charon, Pluto’s biggest moon, once had an ocean

Scientists dissect Pluto’s heart, for geology’s sake

Weird! New Horizons probe spots islands of water ice floating in nitrogen slush

NASA puts Pluto and its heart on a valentine

Map reveals that there’s more water ice on Pluto

‘Planet Nine’? Astronomers boost the case for a large, unseen Planet X

New Horizons team shares new X-Files from Pluto

Postal Service geeks out with space stamps for Pluto, planets, the moon and Star Trek

New Horizons probe sends more amazing pics of Pluto and a tiny moon called Nix

NASA’s New Horizons mission colorizes Pluto’s close-up – and zooms in on its pits

NASA’s New Horizons probe sends its closest close-up of Pluto

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