Pluto

The Science so far on Pluto’s Broken Heart in Latest Enhanced-Color Pics

This is Pluto in Charon in real color, but exaggerated to emphasize the compositional differences. The image was taken by the New Horizons probe early in the morning of July 13, 2015 before its historic flyby. At 3:38 am ET on July 13, 2015, the New Horizons probe used three color filters on its Ralph…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Jul 14

Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Talk About The Importance of Reaching Pluto

Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t classify Pluto as a planet. But he thinks it’s pretty damn important that we got there. We were at a special “Breakfast at Pluto” event bright and early this morning at the American Museum of Natural History. Co-hosted by Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson (known for the new Cosmos series…

Tech News Kaila Hale-Stern Jul 14

New Horizons Has Made its Closest Approach to Pluto!

After nine years and over 3.26 billion miles, the New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto earlier today. Assuming it survived the encounter, the probe is now drifting away from the dwarf planet as it heads deeper into the Kuiper Belt. Above: NASA posted this image of Pluto earlier this morning to its…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 14

Join io9 on Tuesday to Watch the New Horizons Pluto Flyby LIVE!

Are you ready for the New Horizons Pluto flyby? io9 is hosting live blogs to celebrate the probe’s closest approach starting at 7:30am ET/4:30am PT on Tuesday morning. We’ll be back at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT on Tuesday night to wait with baited breath for New Horizon’s first call home to Earth after the flyby. Outside…

Space & Spaceflight Mika McKinnon Jul 13

Pluto Is Bigger Than We Thought

Pluto, our solar system’s lovably puny outlier and everyone’s favorite demoted planet, is less puny than scientists predicted. NASA’s nuclear-powered New Horizons probe traveled over 3 billion miles in a decade to bring us this new info. Apparently, Pluto’s diameter is closer to around 1,473 miles (2,370 km), which is about 50 miles (80 km)…

Space & Spaceflight Bryan Lufkin Jul 13

Is the Ice on Pluto Slippery Enough for You to Fall On?

It’s been a good day for Pluto and its fans: Already, we’ve learned that we were underestimating its size (sorry, little friend!) and that those ice caps atop the almost-planet are made of methane and nitrogen ice. But what would stepping out on that ice be like? Perhaps not quite how we’re used to. In…

io9 Ria Misra Jul 13

This is What We’ve Learned About Pluto in the Past 24 Hours

New Horizons is racing to Pluto so quickly, we’re literally learning new things every single day. Exploration is a true planet-wide “Today I learned…” moment: we now know what makes up Pluto’s atmosphere, what makes up its ice cap, and exactly how big it is. With data analyzed within the last day, researchers on the…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Jul 13

It’s Open Season on Interpreting the Geology of Pluto and Charon

At less than a million miles from Pluto leading up to closest approach flyby on Tuesday, the New Horizons probe is sending back outright spectacular images of the dwarf planet and its largest moon. Every batch of best-ever images sparks speculation on what geology underlays the features on these distant, rocky worlds. Geomorphology is the…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Jul 12

When We Discovered Pluto, It Changed How We Saw The Solar System

On the 23rd and 24th of January, 1930, a young astronomer working in Flagstaff, Arizona, scanned a small patch of the night sky. He was taking pictures of star positions, looking for anomalies that would signal movement somewhere at the edge of the solar system. He took the pictures then set them aside, not realizing…

io9 Andrew Liptak Jul 12

Fly Along with New Horizons in this NASA App

The New Horizons spacecraft will start the busiest phase of its flight tomorrow as it makes its closest approach to Pluto, and you can watch from home with NASA’s Eyes on Pluto app. Eyes on Pluto is a module within NASA’s Eyes visualization program, which lets you explore space through simulations built with real NASA…

Space & Spaceflight Kiona Smith-Strickland Jul 12

Pluto’s Mysterious Dark Splotches Come Into Focus

At this point, it’s safe to say that we’re going to be receiving a new ‘highest resolution image ever’ of Pluto on a close to 24 hour basis. Yesterday, we got our first peek at geologic features on the dwarf planet’s surface. And today, New Horizons beamed back the best image to date of four…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Jul 11

How Did We Get to Pluto So Fast?

On July 14th, the New Horizons spacecraft will make history when it sails past Pluto, formerly known as the ninth planet. Even more incredible is how fast we got there. The spacecraft traveled 3 billion miles in nine and a half years. That’s about a million miles a day for almost ten years. How the…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Jul 11

The New Horizon’s Holiday Glitch was More Fear-Inducing Than We Realized

When the New Horizons probe glitched and went into safe mode last weekend, the situation was worse than anyone outside the lab even knew. For hours, the lab heard not a peep from their probe, uncertain if it even still existed. When it finally called home, it was the first-ever test of the backup computer.…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Jul 11

First Signs Of Geology Spotted On Pluto’s Surface

We’re so close to Pluto, we’re starting to see geologic features on the dwarf planet’s surface. In its latest portrait from the New Horizons spacecraft, scientists are able to pick out distant surface formations, including a polygonal band of terrain stretching east-northeast across the planet, and a dark band near the south pole that’s now…

Tech News Maddie Stone Jul 10

We’ve Never Seen the Surface of Pluto’s Moon Charon. Until Now!

Today’s gift from the New Horizons flyby is our first-ever look at the surface of Pluto’s enormous moon Charon. The icy world is distinctly different from its parent, and is guarding its secrets closely. The New Horizons probe has been slowly creeping up on Pluto for nearly a decade. Aftera heart-stopping computer error threw it…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Jul 9

Experience a Day on Pluto From Right Here on Earth

Pluto may be three billion miles away, but we can still imagine what it’d be like to stand on the icy dwarf world’s surface. That’s because it’s always Pluto Time somewhere. In fact, here on the East Coast, it’s Pluto Time this very minute. Pluto Time is a special moment of interplanetary kinship that happens…

Tech News Maddie Stone Jul 8

New Horizons’ Latest Image Shows Pluto’s “Heart”

New Horizons is back in action — and the probe’s latest picture reveals a surface feature that has a distinctively heart-like shape. NASA has also released an updated map of Pluto, showing two surface features that have been dubbed the “whale” and “donut.” The top image was received by NASA scientists earlier today. New Horizons…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 8

We’re Only a Pluto Day Away From Pluto

We’re only a day from reaching everyone’s favorite demoted planet—a Pluto Day, that is. The icy dwarf world rotates once every 6 days, 9 hours, and 22 minutes, meaning that at 10:28 p.m. EST tonight, Pluto will have itself just one more spin before the New Horizons spacecraft makes its closest approach on July 14th.…

Tech News Maddie Stone Jul 7

What to Expect in the Leadup to New Horizons’ Historic Flyby of Pluto

After a nerve-wracking hiccup this weekend, NASA’s New Horizons mission is all systems go: We are now just a week away from the space probe’s long-awaited encounter with Pluto. Here’s what to expect over the course of the next seven days. After 3,455 days and nearly 3-billion miles, New Horizons is now less than a…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 7

Everyone Relax, NASA Solved The Problem With Its Pluto Probe

Yesterday afternoon, NASA lost contact with its New Horizons spacecraft for an hour for reasons unknown. This is generally not a good thing when you’re working with technology that’s 4.5 light hours away, but thankfully, NASA seems to have solved the problem. According to NASA, the problem was caused by a “hard-to-detect timing flaw in…

Space & Spaceflight Chris Mills Jul 5

The Science so far on Pluto’s Broken Heart in Latest Enhanced-Color Pics

Watch Neil deGrasse Tyson Talk About The Importance of Reaching Pluto

New Horizons Has Made its Closest Approach to Pluto!

Join io9 on Tuesday to Watch the New Horizons Pluto Flyby LIVE!

Pluto Is Bigger Than We Thought

Is the Ice on Pluto Slippery Enough for You to Fall On?

This is What We’ve Learned About Pluto in the Past 24 Hours

It’s Open Season on Interpreting the Geology of Pluto and Charon

When We Discovered Pluto, It Changed How We Saw The Solar System

Fly Along with New Horizons in this NASA App

Pluto’s Mysterious Dark Splotches Come Into Focus

How Did We Get to Pluto So Fast?

The New Horizon’s Holiday Glitch was More Fear-Inducing Than We Realized

First Signs Of Geology Spotted On Pluto’s Surface

We’ve Never Seen the Surface of Pluto’s Moon Charon. Until Now!

Experience a Day on Pluto From Right Here on Earth

New Horizons’ Latest Image Shows Pluto’s “Heart”

We’re Only a Pluto Day Away From Pluto

What to Expect in the Leadup to New Horizons’ Historic Flyby of Pluto

Everyone Relax, NASA Solved The Problem With Its Pluto Probe

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