Pluto

Pluto Might Be Home To Methane-Covered Mountain Peaks

Even though New Horizons swept past Pluto last year, more than half the data that it gleaned from the planet during its flyby is still on the spacecraft, which means that there’s still much that we’ll be learning about the dwarf planet. Case in point: methane snow-covered peaks. That’s what NASA thinks exists in Pluto’s…

Space & Spaceflight Andrew Liptak Mar 5

There Might Be Clouds on Pluto

Pluto’s atmosphere might be more complex than we thought. New Scientist claims that scientists reckon these images could actually show individual clouds floating above the surface of the planet. The magazine claims to have seen emailssent between researchers discussing the formation of clouds above Pluto. One snippet from an email sent by John Spencer of…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe Mar 4

Over Half of the Data From the Pluto Flyby Is Still On the Spacecraft

When New Horizons zipped past Pluto on July 14th, 2015, it collected a lot of data. Couple that with the spacecraft’s agonizing, 1-2 Kbps transfer speed, and you arrive at a rather amazing fact: More than half of the data from the historic Pluto flyby is still on the spacecraft. Sailing a probe into the…

Tech News Maddie Stone Mar 2

Pluto’s North Pole Is Surrounded By Frozen Canyons

New Horizon’s flyby of Pluto has given scientists an unimaginable amount of data, considering it’s previously only existed as a pixelated blob. But in addition to geological maps and real science, New Horizon has also given us some stunning photos. The image above is a fake-color shot of Pluto’s North Pole. To give you an…

Tech News Chris Mills Feb 26

This Geologic Map of Pluto Is Just Incredible

Remember when Pluto was nothing more than a pixelated blob at the edge of our Solar System? We were so young then. But now, seven months after New Horizons’ historic flyby, scientists have amassed so much data on the former ninth planet that they’re constructing our first geologic maps of it. The map above spans…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Feb 12

The Mystery of Pluto’s Moving Hills Has Finally Been Solved

Something strange has been happening on the surface of Pluto. There’s a series of hills, each about a couple miles across, and they appear to be moving. NASA has an intriguing new explanation for the phenomenon: Those aren’t just hills that we’re seeing—they’re also icebergs. It’s certainly a tidy explanation, except for one issue. That…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Feb 4

Steve Gildea’s Stunning Planetary Suite Has Upgraded Pluto’s Appearance

A couple of years ago, we were blown away by Steve Gildea’s work titled Planetary Suite: a sliver of each planet forming a single, wonderful image. There was one problem though: he didn’t know what Pluto looked like. Now, we do. With new imagery from New Horizons, Gildea has gone and updated his Pluto panel,…

io9 Andrew Liptak Jan 31

These NASA Fly-Over Images Just Revealed Something Odd on the Surface of Ceres

Okay, we’re just going to say it: From its mysterious glowing patches to its two-faced mountain, dwarf-planet Ceres is plain weird. And with the latest fly-over look at its surface from NASA, things are getting even stranger. NASA put together this animated version of a fly-over of Ceres using their new low-altitude images from the…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Jan 29

Mysterious Planet X Could Be the Ninth Planet In Our Solar System

There could be a new ninth planet floating beyond the dark edges of our solar system, according to new research published in The Astronomical Journal from CalTech professors Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin. If those names ring a bell, it’s because Brown and Batygin worked to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet in 2006. The…

Space & Spaceflight Michael Nunez Jan 20

New Image From New Horizons Shows Layers In Pluto’s Atmosphere

New Horizons might have swept past Pluto months ago, but we’re still learning some cool things from the images that are being beamed back. In the latest picture, NASA reported that they’ve spotted some layers in the dwarf planet’s atmosphere. The pictures show a little more complexity to Pluto, giving us some good ideas of…

Tech News Andrew Liptak Jan 16

There’s Something Surprising Lurking in Ceres’ Mysterious Bright Spots

Dwarf planet Ceres’ bright spots are perhaps the strangest of all its features. Now we’re finally in a low-enough altitude to get an unprecedented close-up look—and what we’re seeing may only have deepened the mystery. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft swung into its lowest orbit yet—a cool cruising height of 240 miles and started snapping pictures of…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Jan 12

NASA’s New Photos Bring Pluto’s Surface Into Sharp Focus

Combining data from two instruments on board the New Horizons spacecraft, NASA scientists have produced a detailed composite image of Pluto’s Viking Terra region. NASA has also released a photo of the Sputnik Planum region which it says is the sharpest view yet of the Plutonian surface. To make this image of Viking Terra, scientists…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Jan 8

We Finally Think We Know What Caused Pluto’s Weird, Bumpy Plains

Ever since New Horizons zipped past Pluto in July, we’ve marveled over the dwarf planet’s complex terrain. Among the biggest puzzles Pluto presents us with is a vast, crater-free ice field informally known as Sputnik Planum. The leading hypothesis for how this surface came to be? An epically violent collision. That’s according to New Horizons…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Jan 5

Soon, Your Mail Will Boldly Go Where No Person Has Gone Before

It goes without saying the gap between the fake exploration on Star Trek and the actual exploration at NASA is huge. But next year, they’ll be worth exactly the same at the post office. The United States Postal Service has revealed some of their new 2016 stamps and there are four commemorating Star Trek, which…

io9 Germain Lussier Dec 31

These Are the Closest Photos We’ll See of Ceres. Ever.

Returned from the lowest cruising altitude over the dwarf planet yet, these shots of Ceres are incredibly detailed—and could even show us some surprises. As NASA’s Dawn spacecraft and its cameras approach Ceres, photos are getting more revealing. A few weeks back, a closer look showed that those mysterious bright spots that we’ve been seeing…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Dec 22

This Is the Space Weather New Horizons Had to Fly Through to Get To Pluto—And It’s Very Strange

New Horizons returned some amazingly detailed shots and data of Pluto over the course of its mission—but just what did it have to fly through to get there? So, so much. NASA put together this visualization of what the spacecraft encountered between January and August on its way to Pluto. The list includes a series…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Dec 8

These Are the Best Pluto Images New Horizons Captured

NASA has just received the first batch of the sharpest images of Pluto captured during the July flyby—and they’re incredible. Are you ready to go cross-country skiing and ice climbing three billion miles from home? Because Pluto’s terrain is a frozen wonderland. The images below are part of a sequence captured by New Horizons’ Long…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Dec 4

Enjoy an Endless Day On Charon

As the New Horizons spacecraft approached Pluto this summer, it sent back photos from all angles, allowing us to reconstruct an entire day on the dwarf planet. Not one to play favorites, NASA has now gone and done the same for Charon, Pluto’s crater-ridden moon. Like Pluto, Charon rotates once every 6.4 Earth days. The…

Tech News Maddie Stone Nov 21

Pluto Shows Its Principal Colors in This Psychedelic Shot

Do not adjust your monitors. While this view of Pluto looks like it’s all screwed up, in fact it’s an image from New Horizons that brings out the subtle variations in color on its surface. The image uses a technique that NASA calls principal component analysis. It’s designed to “highlight the many subtle color differences…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe Nov 13

This Newly-Discovered Dwarf Planet Is the Most Distant Object In Our Solar System

V774104: That’s the name of the new dwarf planet astronomers revealed this week, and it’s three times as far away from the sun as Pluto. It’s the most distant object ever discovered in our solar system—and it could mean there are even more far-flung planets in our corner of the universe just waiting to be…

Space & Spaceflight Bryan Lufkin Nov 12

Pluto Might Be Home To Methane-Covered Mountain Peaks

There Might Be Clouds on Pluto

Over Half of the Data From the Pluto Flyby Is Still On the Spacecraft

Pluto’s North Pole Is Surrounded By Frozen Canyons

This Geologic Map of Pluto Is Just Incredible

The Mystery of Pluto’s Moving Hills Has Finally Been Solved

Steve Gildea’s Stunning Planetary Suite Has Upgraded Pluto’s Appearance

These NASA Fly-Over Images Just Revealed Something Odd on the Surface of Ceres

Mysterious Planet X Could Be the Ninth Planet In Our Solar System

New Image From New Horizons Shows Layers In Pluto’s Atmosphere

There’s Something Surprising Lurking in Ceres’ Mysterious Bright Spots

NASA’s New Photos Bring Pluto’s Surface Into Sharp Focus

We Finally Think We Know What Caused Pluto’s Weird, Bumpy Plains

Soon, Your Mail Will Boldly Go Where No Person Has Gone Before

These Are the Closest Photos We’ll See of Ceres. Ever.

This Is the Space Weather New Horizons Had to Fly Through to Get To Pluto—And It’s Very Strange

These Are the Best Pluto Images New Horizons Captured

Enjoy an Endless Day On Charon

Pluto Shows Its Principal Colors in This Psychedelic Shot

This Newly-Discovered Dwarf Planet Is the Most Distant Object In Our Solar System

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